
Book._..Jl£ 



THOUGHTS 



SACRAMENTAL OCCASIONS 



EXTRACTED FROM THE 



DIARY OF THE REV. PHILIP DODDBIDGE.D.D. 



WITH 

AN INTRODUCTION 

BY 

JAMES W. ALEXANDER, D.D. 



First American from the London Tract Society's Edition, 



PHILADELPHIA: 

WILLIAM S. MARTIEN, 37 SOUTH SEVENTH STREET. 
New York — No. 23 Centre street. 

1846. 



s 

u 

\%#* 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 
1846, by William S. Martien, in the office of the Clerk 
of the District Court for the Eastern District of Penn- 
sylvania. 




W t>\ 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction page 9 

First Meditation. — Humiliations of soul before God, 
and invocations for his assistance and mercy 31 

Second Meditation. — Of the union and communion of 
the soul with Christ by faith, and of the emotions of 
gratitude it should inspire 32 

Third Meditation. — Feelings of contrition for the 
sufferings of the Saviour when viewed as the conse- 
quence of personal and general transgression 35 

Fourth Meditation. — Solemn and earnest supplica- 
tions for greater faith, and a more immediate sense 
of the Divine presence 36 

Fifth Meditation. — Christ viewed as an atoning Sa- 
crifice 38 

SiXTn Meditation. — The guilt and helplessness of hu- 
manity — the need of a Redeemer — the readiness of 
Christ to suffer for the salvation of the world, with 
thoughts on the promptitude to love and duty which 

his mercy should inspire 39 

3 



4 CONTENTS. 

Seventh Meditation. — Of the evils arising from a 
want of faith; and of our need of sanctification. 
Access to God by Christ 45 

Eighth Meditation. — Of the causes for humility in 
approaching God, and of the confidence and joy 
which the love of Christ may inspire 48 

Ninth Meditation. — Thoughts on the vast extent of 
the Divine mercy. Death considered by the Chris,- 
" tian but as the portal to eternal joy and triumph. 
Atonement and death of Christ commemorated ... 50 

Tenth Meditation. — The inferiority of earthly hopes 
to those of heaven, with encouragements for the in- 
crease of love and faith 53 

Eleventh Meditation. — Salvation could only be of 
Divine origin 55 

Twelfth Meditation. — Regret for instances of past 
negligence, with reflections on the awful justice of 
God, and of the hopes and obligations incurred by 
the mercy of salvation 56 

Thirteenth Meditation. — Records of happy expe- 
rience in religion, with thoughts on the influence of 
the Holy Spirit 59 

Fourteenth Meditation. — The joy and confidence of 
a Christian in the cross of Christ when viewed as 
the emblem of salvation 60 

Fifteenth Meditation. — The triumph of Christ, and 
the future triumph of the church in Him 62 



CONTENTS. 5 

Sixteenth Meditation. — The soul delighting in the 
ascension of Christ, under the view that death is 
thus "swallowed up in victory," and meditating on 
Christ as suffering the just for the unjust 65 

Seventeenth Meditation. — Happy recollections of 
communion with God in the offices of religion with 
thoughts on the joyful duties of gratitude and love. 69 

Eighteenth Meditation. — Of the connexion of the 
spiritual blessings with each other, with correspond- 
ent exhortations 1JL 

Nineteenth Meditation. — Of the Divine mercy irt- 
the scheme of redemption, with solemn thoughts 
on our personal responsibility for the sufferings of 
Christ 74 

Twentieth Meditation. — How the favour of God, 
and the hopes of the gospel, may render a Christian 
superior to the trials and sorrows of the world .... 77 

Twenty-first Meditation. — Love to the Redeemer 
will insure the obedience of a Christian to the pre- 
cepts of his law, and to such are promised the con- 
stant support of the Divine presence 80 

Twenty-second Meditation. — Christians thankful 
and happy under the promise that they shall share 
in the heavenly felicity of Christ 82 

Twenty-third Meditation. — The Christian secure 
under the covenant of the gospel and the guardian- 
ship of the Redeemer. Written under the imme- 
diate pressure of the most severe domestic affliction 
that Dr. Doddridge was ever called upon to suffer, 
and containing many interesting and pathetic par- 
ticulars » 84 



6 CONTENTS. 

Twenty-fourth Meditation. — The mournful recol- 
lections of affliction assuaged by contemplations 
on the love and sufferings of Christ 90 

Twenty-fifth Meditation. — Death swallowed up in 
victory by the sacrifice of the Redeemer 92 

Twenty-sixth Meditation. — The people of God as 
consecrated to his service 93 

Twenty-seventh Meditation. — The importance of 
the ordinance ; and of the extraordinary mercy of 
God in the plan of redemption 95 

Twenty-eighth Meditation. — The supreme happi- 
ness of the Christian constituted by the converse 
and favour of the Deity 97 

Twenty-ninth Meditation. — Personal remarks on 
some mournful and mysterious providences : — the 
Christian armed by faith to suffer all things ...... 98 

Thirtieth Meditation. — Of perfect devotedness to 
the service of God 101 

Thirty-first Meditation. — The peace of God, one of 
the greatest blessings enjoyed by the believer, with 
considerations on " the blood of sprinkling." 102 

Thirty-second Meditation. — Of the majestic charac- 
ter of the Messiah in his offices 105 

Thirty-third Meditation — The blessed may tri- 
umph in the thoughts of heaven 107 

Thirty-fourth Meditation. — The pardon of sin ren- 
ders trials light in the estimation of a Christian. . . 109 



CONTENTS. 7 

Thirty-fifth Meditation. — Holy and delightful anti- 
cipations under the assurance of being enabled to 
serve the cause of God in the world during life, and 
by his writings after death Ill 

Thirty-sixth Meditation. — Solemn aspirations of 
praise and gratitude for the Divine protection and 
favour in individual particulars 114 

Thirty-seventh Meditation. — Of Christ as being the 
brightness of his Father's glory 117 

Thirty-eighth Meditation. — The character and hap- f 
piness of the true Christian 119 

Thirty-ninth Meditation. — Christ's spiritual pres- 
ence with his church 122 

Fortieth Meditation. — Christ anointed by the Fa- 
ther 124 

Forty-first Meditation. — Of the peace of God, as 
enjoyed by the Christian under the covenant of 
the gospel J 29 

Forty-second Meditation. — The pious soul refreshed 
under the blessings of Christianity; and of the re- 
surrection of the just 131 

Forty-third Meditation. — The redeemed are the 
property of the Saviour, and are self-dedicated to 
his service 135 

Forty-fourth Meditation. — -Of the joys of the future 
world 139 

Forty-fifth Meditation. — The church consecrated 
by the sacrifice of Christ 141 



8 CONTENTS. 

Forty-sixth Meditation. — Christians rejoice as they 
anticipate the second coming of the Saviour 143 

Forty-seventh Meditation. — Love and grace of 
Christ in suffering for guilty man 146 

Forty-eighth Meditation. — The petitions of a Chris- 
tian stated and answered 149 

Forty-ninth Meditation. — Christians are inoffensive, 
and benevolent in thought and deed 151 

Fiftieth Meditation. — Christ will not desert his 
people in times of sorrow and of trial 152 

Fifty-first Meditation. — The Christian questioned 
as to the charges which the Saviour might have 
against him 155 

Fifty-second Meditation. — The believer rendered 
ultimately secure from death and sin 156 

Fifty-third Meditation. — Of the Christian's self, 
dedication to the Saviour 158 



INTRODUCTION. 

The part which I have assumed, in respect 
to the following pages, is a very humble one. 
It is not the presumptuous folly of helping 
forward a work of Doctor Doddridge, in pub- 
lic esteem ; but only an attempt to elucidate 
a sort of composition which is somewhat un- 
usual. It is believed that the Meditations 
which are subjoined may be useful, not only 
to private Christians, but to ministers of the 
gospel. 

It has been questioned, with great justice, 
whether the keeping of a religious diary, 
from day to day, in the usual form, is on the 
whole conducive to simplicity, lowliness, and 
candour, in Christian experience. It is equal- 
ly, questionable, whether the private exer- 
cises of a soul, in communion with its God, 
should be dragged forth, and published to 
the day; especially in cases where the author 
had sedulously endeavoured concealment, by 
the use of a cipher. There can however be 
2 9 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

no room for query, touching the injustice of 
publishing, without purgation, the private 
papers of Dr. Doddridge, eighty years after 
his death, by his great grandson, John Dod- 
dridge Humphreys, Esq.* These five vol- 
umes, of letters and journals, contain, as might 
be expected, a fund of valuable information; 
but much also which should have been con- 
signed to oblivion. The life of the author 
was a true progress. Between the earliest 
and the latest effusions there is a striking 
contrast. Over the juvenile levities of the 
first letters, which are heartlessly published 
by a latitudinarian, perhaps a Unitarian, 
descendant, the venerable writer would no 
doubt have blushed and wept. The great 
body of the subsequent communications are 
such as might well befit a man of God. In 
the diary there is nothing but what is edify- 
ing. 

The little book here offered is a selection 

* " The Correspondence and Diary of Philip Dod- 
dridge, D. D., illustrative of various particulars in his 
life hitherto unknown ; with notices of many of his con- 
temporaries ; and a sketch of the Ecclesiastical History 
of the times in which he lived. Edited from the original 
MSS. By his great grandson, John Doddridge Hum- 
phreys, Esq., London, 1831, five volumes, 8vo." 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

from the private Diary of Doctor Doddridge, 
prepared for the Religious Tract Society of 
London. For its merits and defects they are 
responsible. It appears to have been com- 
piled from the last volume of the large work 
just mentioned: though only a part of the 
sacramental compositions are here given. 
The original papers extend over a period, 
between the ninth of March, 1728, and the 
second of June, 1751; in other words, from 
the twenty-sixth year of the author's life, 
until the year of his decease. The entries in 
these private volumes were not daily, nor 
even weekly : they much more resemble the 
species of diary, judiciously recommended by 
Jay, in his Life of Winter. They are more 
properly devout compositions ; records of 
great and critical facts in providential history; 
or meditations at times of unusual devotion. 
"It has been observed in the Preface," 
says Mr. Humphreys, " that this Diary is not 
that daily record which the name implies. It 
contains, in the first instance, Memoranda of 
Remarkable Incidents in the Life of Dr. Dod- 
dridge ; and, in the second, his Sacramental 
Meditations. Of the latter devout reflections, 
no difference of opinion can exist, they are 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

full of that holy fervour and deep humility 
for which their pious author was so preemi- 
nently distinguished."* 

It was the custom of Dr. Doddridge to 
make serious preparation for the solemnities 
of sacramental days. As an instance, pas- 
sages might be cited from a meditation bear- 
ing date October, 1730. From this it appears, 
that by devotional reading and prayer, ac- 
companied with fasting, he endeavoured to 
bring his mind into a frame suitable to the 
engagements of so tender an occasion. As 
no part of this work has been reprinted in 
America, it may be allowable to insert a sen- 
tence or two; from which the reader will 
perceive the manner in which religion is made 
to mingle itself with the author's private con- 
cerns, and particularly with his pastoral ser- 
vices. After detailing a number of devo- 
tional acts, he says : " I then prayed for fur- 
ther grace, and referred to God that dear and 
important concern which will speedily be 
determined, and with it, in all probability, 
much of my future views of happiness in life. 
I then read some excellent things in Baxter, 
about conquering the fear of death, with 

* Correspondence and Diary, vol. v., p. 248. 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

which I was more affected than by any thing 
that had passed before in the day. I con- 
cluded with a prayer for others, and a thanks- 
giving to God ; after which I went and made 
some visits; prayed I know not how many 
times abroad, with my sick friends, and spent 
the evening in writing a letter to Mr. Clark, 
expounded in the family, and attended to 
secret devotion."* 

The subsequent pages show, that as he 
advanced in life, Doctor Doddridge was led 
to feel a sympathy more and more warm, in 
sacramental exercises, with those who were 
under his pastoral charge. For the sake of 
young ministers who may read these sen- 
tences, it may not be unprofitable to add, 
that such communion with one's flock tends 
very much towards faithfulness and comfort 
in parochial labour. Late in life, our author's 
retrospection of these services was humble 
and edifying. In a letter of date December 
15, 1748, he thus writes: " I have often, in 
as melting a manner as I could, and as know- 
ing the terrors of the Lord, entreated my 
hearers to be reconciled to God; and perhaps 
few preachers have abounded more in ad- 

* Correspondence and Diary, vol. v., p. 293. 
2* 



14 x INTRODUCTION. 

dresses of that kind. Nor have I ever know- 
ingly and deliberately kept back any thing 
which I considered as the counsel of God to 
them; though I have indeed in many in- 
stances waved controversies, from principles 
of conscience, and not either of indolence or 
of cowardice, if I have known my own 
heart. But I freely own, I have not warned 
from house to house, with a zeal and tender- 
ness like that which I could wish; though 
many houses, and I suppose I might add, 
many scores of houses, have been witness to 
tears of tenderness with which I have at dif- 
ferent times admonished or entreated particu- 
lar persons. But here I think has been my 
greatest defect, that there are many whom I 
have not so warned, and many days, and 
some weeks, in which I have done very little 
this way."* 

These unpremeditated and strictly private 
effusions should in justice be regarded as 
casual fragments, and not as a deliberate 
series of aids for preparation. That the 
learned and pious author had sometimes pro- 
jected a more complete work of this kind, 
might be gathered from a meditation on New 
* Page 91. 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

Year's day, 1750. "I think," says he in this 
place, " I shall neither publish Sacramental 
Meditations nor Hymns ; yet I may perhaps 
do something towards getting them in some 
forwardness."* The Hymns, to which allu- 
sion is here made, were gathered after the 
death of the author, and published by his 
friend, the Rev. Job Orton. 

Doctor Doddridge never attained old age. 
When we look at his amazing labours, we 
should remember, that they were accomplish- 
ed before he reached the term of forty-nine 
years. He was carried off by consumption, 
and died at Lisbon, October 26th, 0. S. 1751. 
The bright example of his life, and the yet 
more brilliant illumination of his dying hours, 
are aleady familiar to the Christian public, 
by means of the Memoir by Mr. Orton. 
There are many other devotional passages 
which might be extracted with advantage 
from his posthumous papers; but these seem- 
ed to promise peculiar usefulness, from their 
being susceptible of a uniform arrangement. 
Unless the writer is alone in the experience of 
former years, it is too common for young 
ministers to approach this most solemn rite 
of our Christianity, with less preparation of 

* Volume v., p. 492. 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

thought than is usual in reference to an ordi- 
nary sermon. When such culpable negli- 
gence prevails, it is not to be expected that 
the ordinance will long retain its savour. 

The remark is frequently made, that sacra- 
mental occasions have not the same interest 
which they had in former years. It is be- 
lieved by the writer, that the complaint is 
not unfounded. In ridding the ordinance of 
that burdensome extent of service, which 
was justly chargeable on the old Scottish 
method, the fast, the repeated preparatory 
services, the discourses on successive days, 
and the tedious serving of table after table, 
we have on the other hand lost much that 
was comely, and glowing, and delightful. 
How many of us recall, with a pensive satis- 
faction, the impressions made even on our 
infant minds by the solemnities of a sacra- 
ment, as dispensed in our earlier days, and 
particularly in those parts of the country 
where Scottish Presbyterianism most pre- 
vailed. Such occasions were infrequent, - t in \ 
rural parishes, from the necessity of the 
case. They were sought, as they still are in 
Scotland, and in a measure among Scottish 
people here, by multitudes, from all the coun- 
try side. Ministers of the gospel came to- 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

gether in large numbers, and amidst circum- 
stances the best fitted to awaken high emo- 
tions, and cultivate kindly affections. There- 
was a part for every one, in the days of con- 
tinued service, and in the addresses delivered, 
where the method of sitting around a proper 
table was observed. Aged Christians who 
may read these lines will acknowledge, that 
memory can recall no seasons in which there 
was so much of the manifestation of God in 
his sanctuary, as in these great sacramental 
gatherings. Whole assemblies were often 
bathed in tears, and moved as the trees of 
the wood are moved by the wind. The holy 
sympathy could not but extend itself to the 
speakers on these occasions. The repercus- 
sive influence from a profoundly touched 
assembly is more productive of eloquence 
than all the canons of rhetorical schools ; and 
the unpremeditated gush, over the sacra- 
mental emblems, has been worth more than 
the elaborate lucubration of weeks, which 
the preacher had brought in his manuscript. 
These were times of revivals ; and it is by 
means of the extraordinary assemblages, and 
penetrating influence of such communions, 
that the chief advances of our church were 
made. These were days of gladness, when 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

the beauty of Zion was admired of her sons, 
and when thousands were brought to ac- 
knowledge Christ. And, whatever may be 
thought of the admission, I hesitate not to 
own, that we have gained nothing as a 
church, by magnifying the convenience and 
the decorum of ordinances, at the expense of 
fervour and joyfulness and life. 

Those who are familiar with the history 
of our church, will call to mind abundant 
verifications of the statement, that times of 
communion have, in a remarkable degree, 
been times of increase. The wonderful case 
of John Livingston is fresh in many minds. 
He was the ancestor of the Livingston family 
of New York, and an eminent minister in 
Scotland and Ireland in the early part of the 
seventeenth century. The discourse which 
is so remarkable was delivered in the church- 
yard of the kirk of Shotts, on u a Monday 
after the communion/' June 21, 1630. "The 
night before/ 5 says Mr. Livingston, " I had 
been with some Christians, who spent the 
night in prayer and conference. When I 
was alone in the fields, about eight^or nine 
o'clock in the morning, before we Were to 
go to sermon, there came such a misgiving 
spirit upon me, considering my un worthiness 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

and weakness, and the expectation of the 
people, that I was consulting with myself to 
have stolen away somewhere, and declined 
that day's preaching, but that I thought I 
durst not so far distrust God, and so went to 
sermon, and got good assistance, about an 
hour and a half, upon the points which I had 
meditated on. Ezekiel xxxvi. 25, 26. And 
in the end, offering to close with some words 
of exhortation, I was led on about an hour's 
time, in a strain of exhortation and warn- 
ing, with such liberty and melting of heart, 
as I never had the like in public all my life- 
time." Now from any thing which Mr. 
Livingston says of himself, no man would 
be led to suspect that even a single soul had 
been awakened by this sermon. Yet John 
Brown, of Haddington, (illustrious, vener- 
able name!) gives a testimony, which is 
moreover pertinent to the general strain of 
our remarks. Speaking of those times of 
persecution, he says : " Meanwhile faithful 
ministers were remarkably countenanced of 
God at their sacramental and other occasions. 
Multitudes crowded to their communions; 
and being eager to hear as much of the 
gospel as they could, when they had an op- 
portunity of it, they began to have one ser- 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

mon upon Saturday before, another on the 
Monday after. Mr. John Livingston, a pro- 
bationer, after having been so far off, that 
morning, preached a sermon at the kirk of 
Shotts, on Monday, June 21, at which Jive 
hundred were converted to Christ."* 

Tradition informs us of the vast assem- 
blages which were attracted to sacramental 
services, under the ministry of the Terinents, 
Blairs, and Smiths, of a former day. These 
were times of great increase to our church, 
and they were connected with blessings on 
communion-services. In our own day, there 
are portions of the country, where the an- 
cient zeal in regard to sacramental means is 
fully maintained, and where they still are 
festivals of gracious communication. And 
where Presbyteries- are used to meet at the 
Lord's table, and to enjoy their mutual gifts 
of instruction and devotion, all concerned 
will readily witness, that the happiest results 
have ensued. Indeed it may be questioned, 
whether ministers and elders can meet year 
after year, solely for business, without the 
growth of hard, dry, distant, and secular 
feelings toward one another. These feel- 
ings would give way to others of a more 

* History of the Church of Scotland, p. 98. 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

genial sort, among the memorials of Christ's 
love. 

It is not intended, by these remarks, to re- 
produce the obsolete forms. We have forms 
enough already: and the era of careful, deco- 
rous, liturgical enactment, is usually that of 
coldness, worldliness, and decay. It would 
ensure no good end to restore four-days- 
meetings, fasts, successive tables, numerous 
addresses, or any measures or ceremonies, 
however proper, without the spirit which 
informed them. But it is meant, and that 
very distinctly, to express a desire for a more 
careful, earnest, and affectionate observance 
of the Lord's Supper. 

There are many who feel — though deli- 
cacy has somewhat repressed remark on this 
point — that there is danger lest, in certain 
quarters, the proper and genuine import of 
this Sacrament should be altogether lost sight 
of. Many who read these lines will call to 
mind occasions, in which the Lord Jesus 
Christ, in his priestly character, has scarcely 
been mentioned at his own table. Every 
thing, in such cases, may be true, orthodox, 
instructive, solemn, nay even edifying — yet 
not sacramental, evangelical, tending to the 
cross. The very solemnity of these occasions 
3 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

may be harsh, and legal. The grand, charac- 
teristic idea of the ordinance, a suffering 
messiah, may be superseded by another, 
which however valuable, is not the appro- 
priate one. Has it not become, in certain 
churches, a common thing for the minister to 
leave the Atonement, that is to say, the prin- 
cipal subject of this memorial, to be gathered 
out of the words of institution, while he 
spends his whole strength upon the impor- 
tant but secondary topics of vow, covenant, 
engagement, obligation to the church, solemn 
professions, and the like. Let it not be 
suspected, that we would silence the latter ; 
but we would earnestly desire that the ap- 
propriate and cardinal doctrine of this ordi- 
nance should have its due place. 

It is a very serious consideration for us 
who minister, that the tone and character of 
sacramental assemblies will bear a general 
proportion to the nature of the instructions 
which fall from our lips at such seasons. The 
"Action Sermon" of the days of our fathers 
may have been a formal, unwieldy, even*a 
superstitious thing; but then it was sure to 
contain the principal thing, Christ. Al- 
though we can all testify with satisfaction 
that it is far otherwise with the majority of 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

our churches, yet it is lamentably true, that 
in some congregations, the people have come 
to expect no particular reference to the work 
of expiation, in the sermon before the commu- 
nion. And then, what a change in the ad- 
dresses at the sacrament itself! Time was, 
when the chief outbursts of affectionate, holy 
eloquence took place at these times; and when 
the assembled worshippers were lifted up in 
sympathy with the varied emotions of their 
leaders. Such addresses to the people were 
remembered and talked of, for a life-time. 
But they presupposed a work of ardent piety 
in the speaker. It is this thought which 
connects our train of remark with the little 
book before us; and its republication, it is 
believed, will prove useful to young min- 
isters. 

The fragments which fill the ensuing pages 
are like the filings of gold or the dust of 
diamonds. They are not specimens either 
of reasoning or of style: they were never 
meant for the eye of the stranger. But they 
reveal to us, in a most pleasing manner, the 
views of their eminent author, in relation to 
this important part of his ministerial work. 
They serve to show how far he was from 
lapsing into a lukewarm, official, customary, 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

routine, in his approaches to this holy table 
Especially do they remind us who are office- 
bearers in Christ's house, that our public 
utterances, to be warm and efficient, must 
flow from an inward fount of feeling. Those 
of Doddridge did so. The hints which he 
penned down, of sacramental addresses, on 
returning to his study, were records of feel- 
ings granted to him, as he often acknow- 
ledges, while he was at the table. This will 
account for the richness and pungent quality 
existing in some of them, even under rude 
diction, beyond what we usually observe in 
the even tenour of his elaborate works. No 
wonder: there are no thoughts ever given to 
the preacher, so vivid and penetrative, as 
those which come to his lips warm from the 
instant affection of the heart. The reader 
will be fully aware of our meaning, if he 
will examine, in the following pages, the re- 
cord of the Fifty-Seventh Sacrament ; where, 
after a brief sketch of the remarks uttered, 
the author adds, in terms which show that it 
was not merely doctrine, but experience i 
"Such were the workings of my heart at 
this most delightful and edifying ordinance. 
that it may prove not only as a transient 
blaze of the spirits ! but that the happy con- 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

sequences of it may go along with me into 
all the devotions, and into all the services, 
that lie before me this month; and that I 
may be prepared for all the will of God." 

It is worthy of note, by candidates for the 
ministry, that in these addresses, there is a 
remarkable variety. The great danger of 
extemporaneous effusions, any where, is that 
of sameness and self-repetition. But when 
one is summoned, at intervals of some length, 
to utter himself, in the presence of the same 
associations, it is almost impossible to avoid 
this evil. So that there are some ministers, 
whose hearers can prognosticate the general 
strain of their teachings, on any given occa- 
sion. Dr. Doddridge happily escapes this ; and 
by a method well worthy of being employed 
in all cases which fall under this rule, such 
as baptisms, funerals, prayer-meetings, ad- 
dresses to inquirers, and even advice to those 
who are ill or dying; it is to connect the 
observations, directly and legitimately, with 
some text of Scripture. This, when joined 
-\jrith the felicitous burst of sudden emotion, 
will ensure a novelty and striking force of 
thought. How far from the arid desertions 
of our common Sabbaths, are such expe- 
riences as are here recorded ! What a prepa- 
3* 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

ration, at home, for successful work abroad ! 
" I must record this day" says he, " as one 
of the most blessed of my life. God was 
pleased to meet me in my secret retirement 
in the morning, and poured into my soul 
such a flood of consolation in the exercises 
of faith and love, as I was hardly able to 
sustain. It would have been a relief to me 
to have been able even to have uttered 
strong cries of joy. 0, how did I then wish 
for a melodious voice, and how gladly could 
I have made earth and heaven re-echo with 
praise ! Family devotion was unutterably 
sweet; and although the pleasure of my 
sermon was much interrupted by an acciden- 
tal disorder that happened in my throat 
while I was speaking, yet I bless God, that 
the sacramental attendance and the evening 
services were all beyond expression sweet. 
My soul was full of God, and of heaven." 

There is an obvious improvement in the 
character of these devotions, as they go on, 
which cannot fail to strike the observant 
reader. They extend over a lapse of about 
twenty years. It needs but a glance at the 
original diaries, to show that the earlier years 
of record offered much to be improved: the 
later ones are full of ripening experience. 



INTRODUCTION. 27 

For some years before his death Dr. Dod- 
dridge laboured under bodily infirmities, 
which would have absolved most men from 
all active service. In 1743, he was seized 
with illness, at the very administration of the 
Lord's Supper. 

" Indeed/ ' he thus writes on his return 
home, "I was not without some thoughts, 
but that I might have taken my flight from 
the table of Christ upon earth to his presence 
above. Cold clammy sweats were upon me ; 
but if, as some said, a mortal paleness seemed 
fixed upon my cheek, I hope I can say that 
glory was in my soul. I revived a little, and 
felt an unutterable sweetness in singing the 
hymn on the words of good old Simeon, as 
rendered by dear Dr. Watts; and I must say, 
that all the pleasure, which I might have had 
in a better state of health and spirits, in the 
after part of the ordinance, was far over- 
balanced by the unutterable delight which I 
enjoyed in consequence of being so inter- 
rupted. I cannot but think, that it was in 
some measure owing to the great fervour of 
my spirit in the former duties of the day, 
that this failure now happened, and I humbly 
hope that J may say, that I was in some 
degree consumed with the love of God. 



28 INTRODUCTION. 

Gracious Lord, I thank thee for the visitation, 
and for the support under it. I thank thee 
that I am thine, in life or in death. And I 
humbly renew the solemn dedication of my- 
self unto thee, as in a holy tranquillity of 
soul, and undissembled readiness to be dis- 
posed of as thou pleasest in this world, or in 
a better." 

The private Christian will find himself 
profited, in preparation for the Lord's table, 
by this unpretending volume; in which there 
is nothing wearisome, because there is nothing 
laboured. But the minister of the gospel — 
if any such will condescend to learn from 
this little book — may derive many valuable 
hints, as to the conduct of this very import- 
ant part of public duty; in regard to the 
manner of preparation for it, the topics pro- 
per to be presented, and the mode of illustra- 
tion. 

It would not be easy to find a better con- 
clusion to these remarks, than what our 
author has furnished us, in speaking of this 
very ordinance : " It is the memorial of the 
death of Christ, by which we represent it to 
others, and to ourselves. May w,e be ever 
ready to give this most regular and accepta- 
ble token, that we are not ashamed to fight 



INTRODUCTION. 29 

under the banner of a crucified Redeemer! 
It is also the seal of the new covenant in his 
blood. Let us adore the grace that formed 
and ratified that everlasting covenant, so well 
ordered in all things, and so sure. And when- 
ever we approach to this sealing ordinance, 
may we render our consent to the demands 
of that covenant, and our expectations of 
those blessings which are conveyed by it ! 
a consent and application so well suited to 
the circumstances its being ratified by the 
blood of Jesus. Thus may every attendance 
nourish our souls in grace, and ripen them 
for glory ; that at length all may be fulfilled 
and perfected in the kingdom of God." 

J. W. A. 



THOUGHTS 

ON 

SACRAMENTAL OCCASIONS. 



MEDITATION I. 

BEFORE MY FOURTH SACRAMENT, JULY 5, 1730. 

Humiliations of soul before God, and invocations for his 
assistance and mercy. 

As I am preparing for the table of the Lord, and 
my intended journey, I would seriously think of 
my business with God, in regard to each. I 
come to the sacred table humbly to receive a re- 
newed pardon for my renewed and and aggravated 
transgressions. I come, to seal those sacred en- 
gagements into which I entered myself on my 
birthday. I come, to get a lively view of Christ 
by faith; that, having him crucified and set forth 
before me, I may thereby be engaged to obey the 
truth, according to the exhortations I am giving to 
others, and which I earnestly pray God to seal 
home upon my own soul. I come, to refer to him 
^all the future concerns of my life, and particularly 
the continuance of it, — and of my health, and 
capacity for usefulness. I come, to ask his assist- 

31 



32 SECOND MEDITATION. 

ance in the cultivation of the several branches of 
learning which lie before me; and in that great 
design for the defence and improvement of Chris- 
tianity, which has been the subject of so many 
of my late thoughts. I come, to commit myself 
to his care in this journey; to beg preservation 
from all the snares and temptations of it; and a 
continued adherence of soul to him. And I come 
to ask his direction in that great concern, the 
choice of a companion for life. May he preserve 
me from being misled by any of those foolish pas- 
sions to which I know that I am naturally obnox- 
ious. I would solemnly engage myself to a care in 
secret devotion, to be watchful over my thoughts, 
my heart, my appetites, and my words; and I 
humbly depend upon him, to lead me and guide 
me; to prosper my way before me, and to make 
such provisions for the supply of my wants as he 
knows that I may need. He is my covenant 
Father and Friend ; may he never leave me nor 
forsake me, and may I never depart from him ! 



MEDITATION II. 

AT THE LORD'S TABLE THIS DAY. 

Of the union and communion of the soul with Christ "by faith, 
and of the emotions of gratitude it should inspire. 

God favoured me with very uncommon enlarge- 
ment of soul; which I desire to mention io the 
glory of his grace. I began with fhat question of 
God to Elijah, "What dost thai* here?" 1 Kings 
xix. 9 ; and observed how careful we should be to 



SECOND MEDITATION. 33 

be able to answer it in every circumstance of life ; 
and with what peculiar pleasure and cheerfulness 
we might answer it here; since we come to eat 
the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God ; — 
that flesh which is meat indeed, and that blood 
which is drink indeed. And then, from these 
words, I proceeded to consider, having briefly ex- 
plained what it was, with what expectations, and 
with what resolutions we should feed upon this di- 
vine banquet. For the expectations ; they may be 
founded on the promises connected with that pas- 
sage of Scripture, wherein Christ tells us, that if 
any man thus eat and drink, he " dwelleth in me, 
and I in him:" John vi. 56; which signifies the 
most intimate union and delightful communion. It 
is a pleasure on both sides. Christ will dwell in 
that soul ! To have been visited by Christ in the 
days of his flesh, how great an honour! " Lord, 
I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under 
my roof; but if thou wilt come, no prince shall be 
so welcome." Now he comes; and comes not 
like a wayfaring man, that turns in but for a 
night, but as a constant inhabitant. And he says, 
" he dwelleth in me." I do not only give him a 
transient look ; entertain a kind thought of him in 
the hour of my conversion, or at the time of my 
entrance on the world of spirits; but he has a 
constant possession of my soul. He dwells in me, 
even before I dwell in glory. How delightful a 
thought, to think we are at this moment dwelling 
in Christ! Again, — " I will give him eternal life!" 
Life eternal !*• How vast the import! Not one 
day's, one year's, one age's enjoyment; but an 
immortality of* happiness! It is true that the body 
must die. These bodies that are now going to 
receive this -sacred food, shall soon fall into a 
4 



34 SECOND MEDITATION. 

ruin, undistinguished from that of those who 
never knew a Redeemer; undistinguished from 
that of those who despised him. As the Israelites 
ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead, so 
shall we be who are now eating this bread of life. 
Yet still it deserves that name, for the soul shall 
live — live, and look down without terror, without 
sorrow, on the mouldering clay, especially when 
it is secure of a glorious resurrection! For that 
follows — " I will raise him up at the last day !" 
John vi. 54. In consequence of this blessed pro- 
mise, we, when feeding upon Christ by faith may 
apply to ourselves all the great and illustrious 
things which the Scripture says of the resurrec- 
tion. We shall bear the image of the heavenly 
Adam, we shall be raised incorruptible! This 
mortal shall put on immortality, and these vile 
bodies shall be changed. And it surely increases 
the pleasure of the prospect that Christ shall 
effect it. " I will raise him up!" Well, then, may 
he say, " My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is 
drink indeed :" as if there were nothing else that 
deserved to be called meat and drink in compari- 
son. With these expectations should we eat; and 
these expectations may instruct us in correspond- 
ent resolutions. Let us come with resolutions of 
maintaining this union; of delighting in it; of 
using the faculties of our souls, and the members 
of our bodies, as what are to be for ever glorious 
with God in heaven. ' *p. 

As for the returns of gratitude, and of l©ve, 
they are natural. Would Christ dispense with 
them, and give us a liberty of sinning, the holy 
soul would decline it with horror. 

While breaking the bread, I discoursed of the 
free love of Christ, " What could deserve all 



THIRD MEDITATION. 35 

this?" — I appealed to conscience in pouring out 
the wine. " Had we shed the blood of Jesus, what 
self- resentment would have attended it! what the 
guilt of having drawn down such agonies on the 
Son of God ! Let us not increase it by trampling 
his mercy under foot." 

When taking the cup I observed : " Shall I be 
ashamed of a public engagement? No! — Were 
the whole world of men and angels assembled, I 
would glory in it; that I am the disciple of the 
crucified Jesus; and that I receive this sacred cup 
in token of my sincere resolution of devoting to 
him all I am and have — of being his for time, and 
his for eternity." 



MEDITATION III. 

AT THE TABLE OF THE LORD. 

Feelings of contrition for the sufferings of the Saviour 
when viewed as the consequence of personal and general 
transgression, 

I have so long neglected to write out the hints of 
this discourse, that I have almost forgotten it. I 
know that I began with the words of Zechariah, 
" They shall look upon me whom they have 
pierced." Zech. xii. 10. I recommended to our 
o^§sideration the Person pierced; and who we are 
that have done it! How deeply we have pierced 
him; and how often we have pierced him. We 
have looked upon him and pierced him ; and then 
looked upon him again, and again pierced him. 
He might have pierced us : yet he is looking upon 
us as upon Peter. O may our hearts feel that 



36 FOURTH MEDITATION. 

look! Let us now look upon him with a resolution 
of piercing him no more, but rather of bringing 
forward his murderers, and of slaying them before 
him. 

In breaking the bread, I used these words; 
" Behold the fire and the wood ; but where is the 
lamb for a burnt offering?" Gen. xxii. 7. The 
sacrifice approved of God, is a broken heart; — 
here are materials to set it on fire, but where is 
the heart? Lord, send down fire from heaven, or 
this will not catch. How cold are our hearts to 
thee! But then shall we offer, as we hope, a sa- 
crifice acceptable through Christ. 



_, MEDITATION IV. 

THE SIXTH SACRAMENT. SEPTEMBER 6, 1730. 

Solemn and earnest supplications for greater faith, and a 
more immediate sense of the Divine presence, 

I have been very careless in recording, and much 
more careless in conducting the actions of the last 
month. I have done little for God; I have en- 
joyed little of him; I have sinned frequently 
against him ; and have, on the whole, gone on much 
as I did before, only rather with less remorse, 
when I have fallen into some shameful instances 
of self-indulgence. I have now the Lord's supper 
again in view. O that I might be ^brought thither 
with a broken heart, and offer the sacrifice of a 
contrite spirit for my many and deeply aggravated 
sins ! I have been lately reading of the " life of 
faith." I want more of that blessed principle, 



FOURTH MEDITATION. 37 

and then it would excite repentance. O blessed 
Spirit! graciously descend on my polluted heart. 
Strike the flint, O thou almighty arm of the Lord, 
that the waters of life may flow forth. 

I come to humble myself before God; I come, 
to renew my resolutions against sinj I come, to 
refer my concerns to him; I come, to seal my 
engagements to be the Lord's, and to prosecute 
with greater vigour the duties of a pastor, of a 
tutor, a student, and a friend. Lord, do thou in- 
struct me in them : Lord, do thou animate me to 
them. 

O thou Searcher of hearts, I appeal to thee. 
Have I a wish so predominant in my soul as this; 
that I may be thy faithful servant? Would I not 
ten thousand times rather be free from the corrup- 
tions of my own heart than from all the calamities 
of this mortal life? Would I not gather live in 
the warmest exercise of holy love, in the most 
vigorous prosecution of thy service — than to live 
in a round of sensual indulgences, or in the pur- 
suit of the most curious speculative amusements, 
although I were sure that I should be ever so suc- 
cessful in them now, and not be brought to any 
reckoning for them at last? 

My God ! when thou renewest the least taste of 

thy love — when I find, though but for a few hasty, 

interrupted moments, the pleasure of conversing 

with thee, I say, " It is good for me to be here." 

Here, O Lord, would I pitch my tabernacle; and 

rather dwell in. the meanest cottage with thee, 

than in the m9st stately palace without thy favour. 

May I not hope that thou hast not yet forsaken 

me. O, return to me in love; — visit me this day 

at thy house, and at thy table, and, for thy name's 

sake, continue t6 lead me, and to guide me. Res- 
4 # 



38 FIFTH MEDITATION. 

cue me when I am beginning to wander; awaken 
me when I slumber; strengthen me when I faint; 
and let not all my prayers, my sermons, my pri- 
vate exhortations, my secret and public transac- 
tions with thee, issue at last in my aggravated 
ruin. Let me, if it be thy will, be separated from 
all that is dearest to me here; but, O my dear, 
my compassionate and forgiving Father, let me 
never, never be separated from thee. — Amen. 



MEDITATION V. 

AT THE TABLE OF THE LORD, SEPTEMBER (3, 1730. 

Christ viewed as an atoning Sacrifice, 

4 
The principal part of my discourse at the table 
of the Lord this evening was a meditation on these 
words, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh 
away the sin of the world." John i. 29. He is 
the Lamb. He is the Lamb of God; sent, ap- 
pointed, approved by him. And he takes away 
sin; — not only some little, slight offences, but all 
sin : he has merit enough to take away those of 
the whole world! Behold him, with a sense, of 
the malignity of that sin, which it needed the blood 
of such a Lamb to expiate. Behold it, with an 
apprehension of the goodness of God in appoint- 
ing him for a sacrifice; with a becoming regard 
to the Lord Jesus Christ, who submitted himself to 
death for us; and with an entire dependence upon 
him. Lord, I lay my sins on the head of this 
great sacrifice; content to lie forever under them, 
if there be not merit enough in him to expiate 



SIXTH MEDITATION. 39 

them all. Behold him, with a resolution to main- 
tain becoming regards to him for the future; and 
in the expectation of seeing the Lamb upon his 
throne, and of ascribing eternal adorations to 
him. 

In breaking the bread, I observed, the goodness 
of God in frequently repeating this solemnity. 

In the prayer, I considered it as an engagement 
to live and die to the Lord ; — and as an encour- 
agement to hope that we shall be the Lord's both 
in life and in death; declaring our dependence 
upon God, that he would perform his part of the 
covenant, and upon his grace, that we might per- 
form ours. 



MEDITATION VI. ' 

ON THE THIRTEENTH SACRAMENT, APRIL 18, 1731. 

The guilt and helplessness of humanity — the need of a 
Redeemer — the readiness of Christ to suffer for the 
salvation of the world, with thoughts on the prompti- 
tude to love and duty which his mercy should inspire, 

I began with some introductory remarks on these 
words of the apostle: " It is not possible that the 
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin. 
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast 
had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come to do 
thy will, O God!" Heb. x. 4, 6, 7. 

The words lead us into some affecting views of 
God, and of ourselves, and of the blessed Re- 
deemer. 

We see ourselves, as condemned creatures, in 



40 SIXTH MEDITATION. 

the presence of a holy God; and we see the Di- 
vine justice, rigorous in its demands. It must 
have blood. Helpless in ourselves, we had no 
atoning blood to offer. In this sense, Lebanon 
would not have been sufficient to burn, nor all the 
boasts thereof for a burnt offering. And how 
dreadful must our case have been, had it rested 
there, and had we continued in the circumstances 
of those, for whom there is no sacrifice for sin! 
But God has provided a Lamb. Then he said, 
" Lo, I come!" It is affecting to think, to what 
purpose, and with what temper he came. With 
what purpose did he come? He might have 
uttered these words in another view. Had God 
declared from his awful throne, " Man, ungrateful 
man, is risen up in rebellion against me, and I 
will make him the monument of my wrath, even 
as are the fallen angels; and who, of all the in- 
habitants of this blessed world, will rise up for 
me against these workers of iniquity ? — into whose 
hand shall I put the flaming sword, which is to be 
bathed in their blood, and the poison of which is 
to drink up their spirits." In this sense might 
our Lord have answered, " Lo, I come! — Father, 
I undertake the work." But it was not so. He 
" sent not his Son into the world to condemn the 
world; but that the world through him might be 
saved!" John iii. 17. A design directly contra- 
ry to that which our guilt might have taught us 
to fear. He came to deliver us, and that at a 
very expensive rate, even at the pri/fe of his own 
life. Amazing goodness! more than can be utter- 
ed ! more than be conceived ! And how did he 
come? With cheerfulness, and evea with eager- 
ness. " Then said I, Lo, I come! — I come to do 
thy will, O God, and, Thy la*\v -is. within mine 



SIXTH MEDITATION. 41 

heart." It was wonderful that he should even 
say, " Father, I consent to do it. Yet, if it must 
be so, if the demands of thy justice be so inflexi- 
ble, and so that it seems good in thy sight, then I 
submit." Had he said, too, as afterwards in the 
days of feeble flesh, and under the struggles of 
human nature, " O my Father, if it be possible, 
let this cup pass from me;" Matt. xxvi. 39 — but 
behold, he came with pleasure, as one " leaping 
on the mountains, and skipping on the hills." He 
triumphed, in a view that seemed so full of hor- 
ror; and doubled the favour by the cheerful air 
with which he bestowed it. " Lo, I come! Be 
the work ever so painful, the consequences are so 
glorious, the scheme is so full of compassion, so 
merciful to man, so honourable to Thee, that I 
long to accomplish it;" as afterwards he said, " I 
have a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am 
I straitened till it be accomplished !" Luke xii. 50. 
With such a strong desire have I desired to eat of 
this passover. Many a passover had he eaten 
before, in the thirty years of his abode upon the 
earth. Some had he before eaten of with his dis- 
ciples; but none on which his heart was so set as 
on this; — and wherefore? because this was that 
at which he was to enter upon his sufferings, and 
to fulfil the great, the glorious design for the re- 
demption of fallen man. It is delightful in this 
view to look on this delight of Christ in such an 
undertaking ; and it is delightful to see the conse- 
quences. " fly the. which will," says the apostle, 
" we are sanctified." Heb. x. 10. He might have 
said, by which «" will" ye are saved; by which 
" will" ye are* justified. But he says, by which 
ye are sanctified;— rand let us not imagine this to 
be less comfortable, for, by a most inseparable 



42 SIXTH MEDITATION. 

consequence, it implies the rest, and thus intimates 
them in a more affecting manner than if they had 
been further expressed. . Such is the connexion 
between holiness and glory, between sanctification 
in this world and complete salvation in the next, 
that when I have observed that the offer of Christ 
is sufficient to accomplish the one, I need not add 
that it will infallibly fulfil the other. How joyful 
a reflection is this, to those who find, by Divine 
grace, that they are already sanctified through 
this offering up of the body of Christ once for all ! 
A glorious work, without which it wouldnever have 
been accomplished. The design was so great, so 
wonderful, that it may well be introduced with 
that mark of attention, " Lo, I come!" — Let us 
behold it, and let us behold it with wonder. And 
do thou behold it, O my heavenly Father. Nor 
did the all-comprehending eye of God ever see a 
sight more worthy its regard. " Lo, I come!" — 
Ought it not, my friends, to excite some corres- 
pondent emotions in our hearts ! and should not 
our souls echo back this gracious language? Me- 
thinks that we should be putting ourselves in 
a waiting posture; looking to God, and to our 
blessed Redeemer, for every intimation of his 
pleasure with regard to what he would have us to 
do, or to bear; and that when he is, as it were, 
beckoning w T ith his hand> and pointing out the 
way, we should answer, with a triumphant plea- 
sure, "Lo, I come. I delight to do thy will, O God, 
and thy law is within my heart." May the ordi- 
nance we now attend be subservient, to these 
pious resolutions, and be the means of bestowing 
that grace, whereby alone they can be rendered 
effectual. 

In breaking the bread I said — Thus was the 



SIXTH MEDITATION. 43 

body of Christ broken ! As it is said, " The Lord 
is risen," he is risen indeed ; so, the Lord was 
crucified, he was crucified indeed. As surely as 
this bread is broken, so surely was the body of 
Christ extended, and his blood poured out upon 
the cross. And is this a sight to be seen with in- 
difference? Was it thus that the Lord of life was 
used? One would have imagined that he should 
have met with the most thankful reception; and 
that after his appearing in the world, all the con- 
tention among the children of men should have 
been, as to who should have done him the greatest 
honour, and who should have offered him the most 
valuable tribute. And was he insulted and reviled? 
was he tortured and murdered? was he used like 
a villain and like a slave, with every circumstance 
of cruelty and contempt? And shall our hearts 
behold this sight without emotion? especially when 
we have to add, that he thus loved us, and gave 
up himself for us? — Why have we the power of 
remembrance, if not to remember Christ? Why 
have we hearts susceptible of humanity and gene- 
rosity, if not to be employed here? Why have we 
tears to shed, if they are not to be poured out on 
such an occasion? Better, O blessed Jesus, a thou- 
sand times better were it that we had neither eyes 
to see, nor ears to hear, nor tongues to speak, nor 
power to breathe, than that our hearts should not 
be filled with, love to thee, our tongues employed in 
thy praises, and all our powers, both of soul and 
of body, be forever devoted to thy service. 

In pouring out the cup, I said, " Behold the 
Lamb of Qod, tfcat taketh away the sins of the 
world 1" 1/ we were the first sinners who had 
ever ventured upon his grace, here would be an 
encouragement to do so, when we consider who 



m 



44 SIXTH MEDITATION, 

this Lamb of God is. But, blessed thought, we 
are treading in a beaten way. O, if the world 
of glory were thrown open to our survey, what 
a surprising sight would it present! We should 
there see thousands of splendid and glorious crea- 
tures, concerning whom, if the Divine revelation 
did not assure us of it, we could never have 
imagined that they had ever dwelt in clay; so 
bright, so glorious, so like to the angels — so like 
to God! One could, hardly imagine that they 
were once struggling, mourning, weeping, and 
trembling, even as are we. And when we wish 
to inquire into their change, let us ask the blessed 
angels; and they will tell us, — "They have 
washed their robes and made them white in the 
blood of the Lamb." Rev. vii. 14. Let us ask 
them, and they will reply, " Christ hath loved us, 
and washed us from our sins in his own blood." 
Rev. i. 5. And is there not, then, the greatest 
reason most cheerfully to repose ourselves upon 
Him? 

We are now conversing with that God, who 
knows the heart and searches the reins ! There 
is something awful and delightful in the thought. 
Let every creature in this assembly consider it. 
He knows the heart? — how awful a thought to the 
careless sinner! He knows that I am here pre- 
sent in his house without any serious regard to 
him, or desire after him. The Lord knows that 
all the solemnities of a sacrament -day cannot 
warm and melt my frozen,* stony lieart. He 
knows that I prefer the amusement or every vain 
thought, to all those contemplatk>nV , jv,hich might 
delightfully employ the mind ^f. a^ Ttngel? But 
to the pious soul, it is a thought £>f cqtnfort. My 
beloved, w T hen we have lively, View* of the Re- 



SEVENTH MEDITATION. 45 

deemer's love, I am persuaded that sentiments 
arise in our souls too great for the most emphatic 
language to express, and we are forced to adopt 
the words of David, And now, Lord, what should 
thy servant "say more unto thee?" How delight- 
ful is it to add, as he does, "For thou, Lord God, 
knowest thy servant;" 2 Sam. vii. 20; and thou 
seest those lively workings of gratitude, of love, 
and duty, which no language can speak! 

When the communion was over, observing that 
some of the elements remained, I said — This is 
an emblem of the provisions of the gospel. Here 
are bread and wine enough, and to spare ! Enough 
for all; enough for more than are here; and if 
any perish, it is not for want of a sufficiency of 
grace, but for want of hearts to use it. 

In giving at the collection, I remarked — It is 
pleasant to think that this is not merely to defray 
the necessary charges, but that it is an offering to 
Christ's poor members. We have devoted our- 
selves, our all to him. I hope it is a pleasant 
thought; it may add a relish to the meanest offer- 
ings, as it adds a worth to them in the sight of 
God. Lord, I give thee this, in token that I am 
ready, according to my engagements, actually to 
give thee all, when thou shalt demand it of me. 



'< < MEDITATION VII 

THE^^PUR.TEENTH SACRAMENT, MAY 16, 1731. 

Of the evils aiming from a vmnt of faith; and of our need 
>of santtjfibalitfn* Access to God by Christ, 

I intrqduIseV th$ discourse with acknowledging 
that evil helrt of , unbelief which attends us at afl 



46 SEVENTH MEDITATION. 

times, and which follows us even to the table of 
the Lord. This hinders us from profiting by pro- 
vidential occurrences; by ordinances; and even 
those of a sacramental nature. Let us endeavour 
to conquer our unbelief by having recourse to the 
promises. Observe, how free, how full, how 
suitable they are. I particularly directed my 
hearers to the blood of Christ, which cleanseth 
from all sin. We have brought to the table of 
the Lord a multitude of sins; many committed 
since the last time we came hither. These sins 
need expiation; these pollutions need cleansing. 
We are sensible of the pollution of them, and 
are therefore unwilling that others should be con- 
scious to them; we had rather be caught in the 
greatest disorder, in the foulest or the meanest 
dress, than that all our sins, in all their circum- 
stances, should be exposed to each other; how 
much more, then, should we be ashamed of them 
in the presence of the holy God ! And it becomes 
us at this time to loathe and abhor ourselves, and 
to repent as in dust and in ashes. But the blood 
of Christ cleanseth from all sin, and procures not 
only pardon, but the sanctifying Spirit; and by 
serious reflections upon it, as a moral means, our 
hearts are purified. Let none, then, dread the 
sacrament because they are sinners: for our very 
coming implies a confession that we are so, other- 
wise we should have no business here. The only 
question is, Do we desire cleansing? If we do 
not, we have indeed no business at it, and can 
receive no benefit by it. In this instance Christ 
does, in effect, say to every one of us, " If I wash 
thee not, thou hast no part with me." John xiii. 8. 
But I hope that we can appeal to Kim, that it is 
our desire that he would wash our feet, our hands, 



SEVENTH MEDITATION. 47 

head, and heart, that we may be entirely purified. 
And if this be indeed our desire, then are we wel- 
come guests to the table of the Lord. Let us, 
then, go into his presence, and plead this blood, in 
the hope of being purified and accepted by it. 

In breaking the bread, such reflections as these 
arose in my mind: — " Lord," as saith the psalm- 
ist, " who knoweth the power of thine anger?" 
Psalm xc. 11. It is known but to the damned in 
hell ! They completely know it. Yet, something 
we know of it in other instances, especially in 
the humiliation and death of Christ. But is there 
not reason, on the contrary, to say, " Lord, who 
knoweth the power of thy love?" We know much 
of it here; but we shall only completely know it 
above. 

In pouring out the wine, the meditations were 
as follow: — We have boldness to enter into the 
most holy place by the blood of Jesus. We are 
now, in comparison, but outer-court worshippers. I 
hope not so in every sense; but we are, undoubt- 
edly, in some. Yet, blessed be the name of God, 
we have a hope of coming nearer, and have a 
confident assurance of entering. Some of those 
that were once worshipping with us are already 
entered. We hope to go to them by the same 
way. They have washed their robes, and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb. So we 
hope to wash ours. Lord, I would receive this 
sacred cup as a token of my admittance to behold 
thee on the mercy-seat, not merely with an eye 
of faith, but in a more sensible and illustrious 
manner. 4 

I remarked afterwards, that when God con- 
versed with Abraham, he mentioned two kind 
things which he intended to do for Isaac. No 



48 EIGHTH MEDITATION. 

doubt Abraham rejoiced in them, but he prayed 
for poor Ishmael ; and methinks that we should do 
so too.* Some of our friends are now partaking, 
and it is delightful to think that they, as well as 
we, are interested in the blessing. O that all were 
so interested ! 



MEDITATION VIII. 

THE FIFTEENTH SACRAMENT, JUNE 19, 1731. 

Of the causes for humility in approaching God, and of the 
confidence and joy which the love of Christ may in* 
spire, 

I began with observing, that when God called 
the people of Israel to appear before him at the 
feast of tabernacles, he appointed them humbly 
to commemorate their meanness and unworthi- 
ness; and particularly to mention the stock from 
whence they were descended, "A Syrian ready to 
perish was my father," etc. Deut. xxvi. 5. So, in 
our approaches to God, we should consider what 
we were by nature, as well as what we are made 
by grace. We have heard that Christ came to 
seek and to save that which was lost. Let us 
seriously reflect upon this. , m 

Consider what we were. We were lost ! — lost 
to God; lost to ourselves; lost to all well-ground- 
ed hope of a blessed eternity. And the Son of 
man came to seek us. Whence did he come? 
Whom did he come to seek? What obscure, and 

* That is, pray for those who seem not at present " in- 
terested in the blessing." — Ed. 



EIGHTH MEDITATION. 49 

what guilty creatures! How far had we wan- 
dered ! How often had we wandered ! With what 
difficulty were we brought home! Yet his love 
conquered all. He came to seek us, — and that, in 
order to save us. What a salvation is this ! Look 
L upon a poor, guilty, ignorant, sensual creature, 
and think that such were we. Look, in imagina- 
tion, on the damned in hell, — and think that such 
should we have been : and then consider how high 
this salvation rises. It reaches to heaven itself. 
Think of what you now feel : — think what we 
should feel, if all our corruptions were mortified, 
all our doubts scattered, and all our graces con- 
firmed: — and yet much more than these will be 
our eternal portion. What a transporting thought! 
What an abundant cause for gratitude, wonder, 
and love! 

In breaking the bread, I observed, that Christ 
commands us to do this in remembrance of him. 
But, alas, how little do we remember him ! Strange 
that we should need a memorial ; but how much 
stranger that we should forget him even with it! 
nay, that sometimes we should be ready to forget 
him at his table; or to remember him there, in a 
manner but little better than forgetful ness: — yet, 
he remembers us in heaven itself!— Blessed Jesus, 
may thy kindness to us, as it shames our unkind- 
ness and ingratitude to thee, so cure it! 

In giving the cup, I said, It is the cup of bless- 
ing — the cup of blessings. O, of what a variety 
of blessings! Here is pardon; and strength; and 
grace; and the foretaste of glory! We bless it. 
May God bless it. So let us bless God that gives 
us this cup, and humbly pray that it may indeed 
be a cup of blessing to us. May the taste of it re- 
fresh us ! and may the memory of it refresh us too! 
5* 



( 50 ) 



MEDITATION IX. 

THE SEVENTEENTH SACRAMENT, SEPTEMBER 5, 1731. 

Thoughts on the vast extent of the Divine mercy. Death 
considered by the Christian but as the portal to eternal 
joy and triumph. Atonement and death of Christ com- 
memorated, 

I began the discourse with some meditations on 
these words, " O how great is thy goodness, 
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; 
which thou hast wrought for them that trust in 
thee before the sons of men!" Psalm xxxi. 19. I 
observed, that here is a kindness immediately pre- 
pared; and a further loving-kindness laid up for 
them. It is as at this table, here is goodness pre- 
pared in this feast of love, to which the words of 
David may be applied, " Thou hast prepared a 
table:" it is prepared in the presence of our ene- 
mies. The malignant host of hell behold this 
remedy, and see that grace offered to us which 
was never vouchsafed to them ! — And it is intend- 
ed to strengthen us against our enemies, especially 
against those of our own household, the corrup- 
tions of nature, and the allurements of the world. 
And I hope that we have found it successful 
against each. God has anointed our head with 
oil. Here, even here, he pours out his Spirit upon 
us. Here, he regards us as a Father, and fills us 
with joy and peace in believing ! I hope that we 
can say, through grace, " Let us see Thee as we 
have seen Thee in the sanctuary." Here our cup 
runs over. This feast that is given to . us is an 



NINTH MEDITATION. 51 

abundant supply. Here is enough, — more than 
enough for us, — there is enough for the whole 
world. — O delightful thought! 

But besides all this, here is rich mercy laid up 
for them that hope in Him. Our sacramental op- 
portunities are coming to an end. But all our en- 
joyments of God are not to end with them. O 
my friends, whenever God shall say unto us in 
his providence, that we shall drink no more of 
this fruit of the vine, may we rejoice in this, that 
we shall then drink it new with Christ in his 
Father's kingdom! And what, therefore, if he 
were to say so to us now? How joyfully would 
the tidings be received by some of us ! to think that 
this is the last solemnity of this kind that I should 
attend; — but where shall I be before another? 
When my brethren are meeting around this table 
here below, I shall then be with my Father above. 
When they see my Saviour through these obscure 
and typical representations, I shall behold him face 
to face. My sorrows, my fears, my complaints, 
my trials, would all be come to an eternal period, 
and my soul be overflowing with eternal joy and 
triumph! Well, Christian, be comforted. It is 
near; it is even at the door! It will be but a 
few moments, and you will receive this bread and 
this wine. And it will be, at most, but a few 
years, and God will give you a call to the eternal 
world, and will put into your hand the cup of com- 
plete salvation. And to a creature conscious of 
eternal duration, what so great difference is there 
between a few years and a few moments? Me- 
thinks, that, in the view of this, our thoughts, as 
well as words, are swallowed up, and that nothing 
remains but to, lift up our adoring hands and eyes 
to Heaven, and' to say, "O how great is thy good- 



52 NINTH MEDITATION. 

ness !" — Let it be our care to secure to ourselves 
the evidence of our interest in it, and to live like 
those that fear him, and that hope in him. 

The first prayer was taken up in going over 
these thoughts. And when breaking the bread, 
I repeated my address to the spectators from these 
words, "Is it nothing to you?" Lam. i. 12. — Is 
not your salvation concerned? Is it not your duty 
to remember Christ? And are not you undone 
without an interest in him? But I persuade myself 
that it is something to some of you. And to those 
of us who have turned aside to see this great 
sight, let me entreat you to think how nearly you 
are concerned in it. There, were all our hopes 
suspended — there, was our eternal fate concerned 
in the atonement and death which we here com- 
memorate. Should not our hearts, then, be filled 
with reverence, be inspired with love, with grati- 
tude, and joy, and established in the firmest ex- 
ercise of faith. 

When I came to pour out the wine, I particu- 
larly discoursed of it as the seal of the covenant, 
by which we give ourselves to God; and prayed 
over what I had said in the pulpit of giving up 
ourselves, our lives, and our possessions, to him. 
And, Lord, if thou seest fit that these frail bodies 
should not only be used, but worn out for thee, — 
thy will be done. We hope, when the weak ma- 
chine of flesh and blood is dissolved, that its im- 
mortal inhabitant, the spirit, will spring with joy 
into the presence of God. And we may say, 
" Into thy hands we commend it, for thou hast re- 
deemed it." I particularly received it with this 
profession, and added something of our depend- 
ence on Divine grace, to add efficacy to these pur- 
poses. The blood of God's covenant is awful; 



TENTH MEDITATION. 53 

but much more so when we consider that it is the 
blood of his Son too. It is pleasant to think that 
God knows all the secret language of our hearts, 
and that he with pleasure hears what no other 
creature is a witness to. 



MEDITATION X. 

THE TWENTIETH SACRAMENT, DECEMBER 5, 1731. 

The inferiority of earthly hopes to those of heaven, with 
encouragements for the increase of love and faith. 

I began with some reflections upon the going up 
of Moses to Mount Pisgah; and observed, that 
our prospect is vastly more entertaining than 
was his. The country we survey is more excel- 
lent, and our own interest in it is more impor- 
tant. Moses saw Canaan — an agreeable sight; 
the stream of Jordan, the plai» of Jericho; rich 
pastures, painted meadows, fruitful fields, beauti- 
ful cities: but what are these to the view of the 
heavenly Canaan? Had he seen this, — all the 
beauty and grandeur of Jerusalem, as in David's 
time; all the sacred and solemn magnificence of 
the temple, as recorded by Solomon; what had it 
been to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the temple of 
God above, which, through his unmerited grace, 
is our prospect? He saw a city then possessed by 
an enemy, where was once the home of some of 
his pious forefathers. . But we see a city possessed 
by our best Friend, the kingdom of our God ! He 
saw a city where the Israel of God were to have 
but a transient settlement; which they might lose, 



54 TENTH MEDITATION. 

as they have now done; but we see that everlast- 
ing abode where we shall never die — whence we 
shall never be expelled. Once more he saw a 
country on which he was never to enter. God 
said to him, " Thou shalt not go thither unto the 
land;" Deut. xxxii. 52; — but he says not the like 
to us. How should we delight in the assurance! 
How should we cherish the reviving thought ! And * 
how cheerfully should we go up to the top of Pis- 
gah to view it! How cheerfully should we die to 
enter upon it! There is Jordan between, and the 
passage may be cold and difficult ; but there is the 
God of Israel before us; — he leads us, and his 
right arm upholds us. 

After the prayer, I considered this ordinance as 
the Christian passover, and as such applied to it. 
Lord, I come to be more completely rescued from 
nature's dark bondage. I come to" be delivered 
from the stroke of the avenging angel through this 
blood sprinkled on my soul. I come, that every 
idol in my heart may fall down, and that I may 
be led onward in my way to the heavenly Canaan. 
Lord, we would eat our passover with unleaven- 
ed bread, with bitter herbs, with loins girded, and 
our staves in our hands, ready to remove when 
thou givest us the dismission. Speaking of seeing 
Jesus, I quoted Traill, and spoke of Christians once 
commemorating this ordinance with us, and now 
with Christ above. And how do they wonder that 
their hearts were no more inflamed by love! Is 
this the Saviour I loved so coldly — that I served 
so weakly! Now the King of glory says, " Be- 
hold, I stand at the door, and knock." Rev. ik. 20. 
Come in, thou beloved of my heart ! Let the door 
be opened; nay, let the wall be broker; down, 
rather than that he should be excluded; rather let 



ELEVENTH MEDITATION. 55 

me die to admit Christ, than live without him in 
my heart. 

Addressing myself to some young people who 
were spectators, I observed — If you asked us the 
meaning of this service, we should tell you that we 
commemorate a dying Lord; that we were once in 
bondage, and that he delivered us; yes, he saved 
us from wrath; he is leading us to Canaan; we 
come hither for refreshment by the way: — is it 
not a noble, a reasonable, and an important ser- 
vice? and ought not you to pray that you may 
have a right to it, and then a share in it. 



MEDITATION XL 

AT THE SACRAMENT, OCTOBER 1, 1732. 

Salvation could only be of Divine origin. 

Although my violent cold hindered me from 
speaking this day at the table with my usual free- 
dom, yet, I bless God, it was a very comfortable 
ordinance; and that in the midst of the weakness, 
and even of the distress of nature, I had some de- 
lightful views of my everlasting rest. 

Having discoursed on the abundance of mercy, 
in a strain which was very comfortable to myself 
in the preparation, and I hope, in some measure, 
to my hearers in the delivery, I proceeded at the 
table to some meditations on these words, " He 
that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is 
God." 2 Cor. v. 5. That is, it was the work of a 
God, to bring us to it. He is God, and none but he 
could have done it. — To work us to it — to such a 
thing as a meetness for what we were naturally so 



56 TWELFTH MEDITATION. 

very unfit. O think what it is that we are wrought 
to ; think who we are — what opposition God found 
— how few are wrought to it: — all, may awaken 
our admiration as well as our joy. 

In breaking the bread, there were mentioned 
some believing views of Christ ; and in receiving 
the cup, was enjoined a deep submission to the de- 
terminations of Divine Providence, and a readiness 
to receive any cup from the hand of God. Since 
we can say that, through grace, I am well per- 
suaded that it cannot be a cup of wrath ; therefore, 
O my God, I rejoice in saying u Thy will be 
done." 

I then apprehended something of the beginning 
of a fever, and recollected it might be fatal, yet I 
cannot say that I thought of it with any terror, 
but rather found a sweet willingness to be dissol- 
ved, and to be with Christ, which is far better than 
this present life. I adore God for it as his own 
work. Behold, O Lord, I am in thy hands. I 
would be waiting for thy salvation, and doing thy 
commands. * 



MEDITATION XII. 

THE THIRTY-THIRD SACRAMENT, MARCH 4, 1733. 

Regret for instances of past negligence, with reflections on 
the awful justice of God, and of the hopes and obligations 
incurred by the mercy of salvation. 

It has been a sad instance of my negligence and 
folly, that I have taken no more notice of what 
has passed between God and my soul on such oc- 
casions as this for many months; as well* as that 



TWELFTH MEDITATION. 57 

I have totally neglected my Diary for a consider- 
able time. I began to be a little more careful to- 
wards the beginning of the year; and I plainly 
find that the time I have since saved for those 
memorandums had been before lost in that care- 
lessness consequent upon such instances of remiss- 
ness and folly. 

I was this day at the table of the Lord, and I 
introduced the ordinance by some meditation on 
those words, " He that spared not his own Son, 
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not 
with him also freely give us all things?" Rom. 
viii. 32. I observed the title given to Christ — " his 
own Son." I hope we are the children of God, 
else we have no business here. But he was so in 
a peculiar and eminent sense, such as no creature 
is ; yet God did not spare him. He was so far from 
being excused, that he was not favoured, that the 
cup might not pass away from him. 

Behold His severity as well as- His goodness. 
He "delivered him up." It was not merely a thing 
that happened in the common course of human 
events ; but he was by the determined counsel and 
foreknowledge of God given up: there was the 
order of God in it ; there was the act of God in it ; 
and he was sent into the world on purpose that he 
might become a sacrifice for sin. And God deliv- 
ered him " up for us" — mean and worthless crea- 
tures as we are; " for us all," even for the mean- 
est and the vilest of us ; — gave him up to all that 
heavy load of punishment and wrath for you and 
for me. How amazing it was ! Not because he 
needed us : Christ was in the enjoyment of eternal 
happiness and glory. What though ten thousand 
creatures were sentenced to everlasting destruc- 
tion, and what if we had been in their number, 
6 



58 TWELFTH MEDITATION. 

had he not been still the same? But God gave 
him for us ; and if so, shall " he not with him also 
freely give us all things?" temporal blessings, so 
far as we need them; above all, the blessings of 
his covenant. If he has given Christ to purchase 
them for us, shall they be purchased in vain; if 
reconciled by his death, shall we not be saved by 
his life! Let us come with boldness to receive 
those blessings. God will give them, and let us 
come and give up ourselves to him: shall we not 
freely and faithfully give ourselves up to that God 
who has given us so much? 

In breaking the bread, I particularly considered 
how, in this dispensation, sin appeared exceeding 
sinful. Few have just notions of it. It is the 
great design of the devil, to represent it as no 
vejy considerable evil, so that sinners may be 
easily drawn info it, and kept from repentance. 
But here God has contrived a method to show 
how malignant it i%, We must have low thoughts 
of Christ, or we cannot have low thoughts of sin. 
Could it have pleased the Lord to wound him, and 
to put him to grief, had not such an atonement 
been fit, and, if fit, necessary? How odious and 
hateful must we appear to ourselves in this view, 
as polluted with that, which the soul of God hated, 
and which the blood of Christ expiated. 

In pouring out the cup, I remarked, God pre- 
pared him a body on purpose that he might suffer 
in it ; that he might have something to offer. 

I have lost many other serious and good thoughts 
for want of a timely recollection of them after I 
came home; yet I remember to have pressed a 
renunciation of all sin. The Lord grant I may 
act according to the tenor of that discourse. 



( 59 ) 
MEDITATION XIII. 

THE FORTY-FIRST SACRAMENT, SEPTEMBER 2, 1733. 

Records of happy experience in religion, with thoughts on 
the influence of the Holy Spirit. 

I desire thankfully to own, that I have been en- 
abled to keep closer to God for some time towards 
the close of the last month than ordinary. Yes- 
terday was a season of sweet communion with 
God. I found it good for my soul to draw near 
to him, and to converse with him by fasting and 
prayer. This day I have been endeavouring to 
promote the interests of practical godliness by my 
preaching and exhortation from those wow^s, " Let 
every one that nameth the name of Christ depart 
from iniquity." 2 Tim. ii. 19.** 

At the table of the Lord, my meditations were 
fixed on those words of Isaiah, " I will pour water 
upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry 
ground." Isa. xliv. 3. I observed the persons to 
whom the promise was made. It represents natu- 
rally what we are — " dry ground;" and what we 
are by grace — " thirsty ;" longing for gracious as- 
sistance and spiritual communications. And God's 
Spirit is represented by " water," to signify how 
refreshing and how fructifying it is; and for the 
effects, it was to make them grow as the grass, 
and even as willows by the water-courses, the 
flourishing of which is very remarkable. I re- 
ferred to the promise also to the rising genera- 
tion, and recommended fervent application to God 
through prayer. 



60 FOURTEENTH MEDITATION. 

In breaking the bread, I particularly insisted on 
the obligations that we are under to depart from all 
iniquity. And O how contemptible and vile does 
the dearest lust and corruption seem when com- 
pared with the favour of the Lord Jesus Christ! 

In pouring out the wine, I spoke particularly 
of resolution for Christ, and that we should look 
around in our various circumstances to find oppor- 
tunities of serving him. And just before I receiv- 
ed, I had such views of approaching glory as I 
have seldom known; so that I even longed to lay 
down my head in the bosom of Christ, and to die 
there. I record it, admiring the riches of Divine 
grace therein to so vile a creature. God has 
lately owned my ministry to the conversion of se- 
veral souls ; and now he meets me in ordinances, 
and gives me more than ordinary communion with 
him. The Cord grant that I may not be high- 
minded, but'fetir^and that I may quietly wait for 
the salvation of God. I am sure that if I ever 
performed any action of my life with a full consent 
of soul, it was that "fly which I this day gave up 
my soul unto the Lord ; and it is that with which 
I now record my humble resolution, in his strength, 
of being invariably and eternally his. Amen. 



MEDITATION XIV. 

THE FORTY-FOURTH SACRAMENT, DECEMBER 2, 1733. 

The joy and confidence of a Christian in the cross of 
Christ when viewed as the emblem of salvation* 

] opened the ordinance with some meditations on 
those words, " God forbid that I should glory, save 



FOURTEENTH MEDITATION. 61 

in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Galatians 
vi. 14. — I observed the apostle's temper with res- 
pect to the cross of Christ, and the reason of this 
regard to it. His temper was that he gloried in it. 
To be sure, he had been often upbraided with it; 
"This babbler, — thou art beside thyself," etc.: yet 
he was not ashamed to own himself the disciple of 
a crucified Redeemer; very far from that. I hope 
we, too, are not ashamed of that cause. If every 
friend present were the most keen and inveterate 
enemy to the gospel, I hope that I should not be 
ashamed to administer the ordinance, or to receive 
it. Rather may we glory in that, and in nothing 
else: — not in ourselves; in our wisdom, learning, 
reasoning powers, or morality ;— in nothing, incon- 
sistent with our coming as naked, trembling, guilty 
creatures, to shelter ourselves under the cross; 
which though to those that perish foolishness, (as 
I had been showing this day fr.om'the.- pulpit,) is to 
the believing soul, Christ the'po^er .and the wis- 
dom of God! The effect follows. that it may 
be found in us! "By whonr the world is crucified 
unto me, and I unto the World :" that is, when I 
consider a suffering Redeemer, methinks that the 
world is as nothing; I am dead to it, and it to me. 
It can no more relieve, help, delight, or save me, 
than it could a dying man. I have no more desire 
after it, than one expiring upon the cross; but I 
live to Him that died for me. 

After deep humiliation, I proceeded to break the 
bread, and in breaking it I spoke of the love of 
Christ. How affecting, if a friend had interposed 
between us and one that came to assault and to 
destroy us; and if he had only received a wound, 
how would it have impressed our hearts ! Much 
more was it to die for us : to die when it was in his 
6 



62 FIFTEENTH MEDITATION. 

own power to have prevented it, which he took care 
to show, by striking those to the ground who came 
to apprehend him. Behold, too, the hardness and 
obstinacy of their hearts, that they would still per- 
sist in that attempt. Yet when our Lord had given 
this testimony of his power, he submitted himself, 
as if he had been weak and vanquished. Admire 
his goodness. 

In pouring out the cup, I mentioned the prophe- 
cy, "He shall see his seed." Isaiah liii. 10. How 
comfortable the thought! It is fulfilled in us, and 
it shall be accomplished in those that come after 
us. Christ shall have a seed to serve him when 
we are in our graves; and we and they, at the 
consummation of all things, shall be taken up with 
the enjoyment of him, and drink new wine in our 
Father's kingdom. 

I bless God that I had a very delightful day : my 
tears flowed, as I hope, of love, for this fountain 
of my heart was unutterably revived with a sense 
of my covenant interest in God. 



MEDITATION XV. 

THE FIFTY-FIFTH SACRAMENT, JANUARY 5, 1735. 

The triumph of Christ, and the future triumph of the 
church in him. 

As I was this day employed in meditations on 
Christ's compassion to tempted souls, I introduced 
the sacrament with some contemplations on those 
words, "Having spoiled principalities and powers, 
he made a show of them openly." Colossians ii. 15. 
Our danger from the powers of hell was great; 



FIFTEENTH MEDITATION. 63 

they foiled our first parents even in paradise ; and 
if such things were done in the green tree, what 
would have been done in the dry? No doubt the 
devil triumphed in that victory. He looked on 
mankind as his prey; but Christ took the spoil out 
of the hands of the mighty. Little did the devil 
think how his devices would end. Little did he 
think how God would overrule them to his own 
glory, and to the advanced happiness of his people; 
how, out of the eater there should come forth meat, 
and out of the strong sweetness. Judges xiv. 14. 
As little did he think, when he was tempting and 
triumphing over Christ on the cross, that he was 
wounding his own cause, and destroying his own 
kingdom; but there, Christ despoiled him; there 
he covered him with confusion and shame. For 
there he recovered his people out of his hands; 
he bound the strong man armed, and spoiled his 
goods. Then he led captivity captive! ascended 
in triumph; and having broken the head of the 
dragon, gave him, as it were, to be meat to his 
people inhabiting the wilderness. Now the victory 
is begun ; ere long it shall be completed, and the 
God of peace — He who through Christ became so 
— shall shortly bruise Satan under our feet. Yet 
a little while, and we shall trample upon him; not 
only as a wounded, but as a destroyed enemy ; for 
by death, Christ has destroyed him that had the 
power of death, that is, the devil. O let us cele- 
brate the victory. 

In breaking the bread, I had some reflections on 
the manner of Christ's making himself known to 
his people; — in the riches of his dying love; in the 
power of his resurrection; the prevalence of his 
intercession; the stability of his covenant, and the 
glory of his kingdom. O, how happy, to behold 



64 FIFTEENTH MEDITATION. 

Jesus, to see him face to face! We rejoice to re- 
ceive a letter from a friend; but how much more 
do we rejoice to meet that friend, to converse with 
him! What, then, will our meeting above be, 
should this be our last sacrament? 

Before pouring out the wine, I said— By the 
cross of Christ, the world is crucified to us, and 
we to the world. It makes us indifferent to it, by 
filling our minds with other thoughts. When John 
stood before the cross of Christ, as his soul was 
possessed with the idea of his crucified Master, 
how little was he impressed with earthly things ! 
Surely, it would have been much the same, whe- 
ther he had to return to a palace or a cottage. 
This ordinance also encourages our dependence 
. upon God* for what is necessary. If he spreads 
such a table for us, will he not spread our own? 
If my Prince allows and invites me to come 
monthly^ and to*sit down with him at his own 
table, wiH he see me starve on other days? Will 
he not, in one way*or another, find bread for me 
and for my family? How unworthy a suspicion! 

After the prayer, and just before I received the 
cup, I fell into a pleasing reflection on these 
words, " They did all drink the same spiritual 
drink;" — the apostles; the martyrs; our remote 
ancestors; our fathers; our former companions in 
the ways of God. They all came to this ordi- 
nance, and were refreshed by it. Future Chris- 
tians shall arise, and partake of it, too, when our 
places are empty. We are related to all. Me- 
thinks, that we should look back, look around, and 
look forward with delight, and make, as it were, 
the joy of the whole church our own. But O, 
that better assembly where we shall all unite; 
where we shall all meet triumphantly around the 



SIXTEENTH MEDITATION. 65 

board of our heavenly Father, and share in much 
nobler entertainments ! 

In the prayer, I had a pleasing view of God, as 
one, without whom we should not know what to 
do, but be even a burden to ourselves. 



MEDITATION XVI. 

THE FIFTY-SIXTH SACRAMENT, FEBRUARY 2, 1735. 

The soul delighting in the ascension of Christ, under the 
view that death is thus "swallowed up in victory" and 
meditating on Christ as suffering the juft for the wd- 
just. '%, 

This Sabbath was very remarkable "on account of 
the extraordinary pleasure that I, Had, both in at- 
tending on the sermon in the morning, an^ on the 
Lord's supper in the evening i nor can 1 forbear 
observing the connexion between them. Mr. Wil- 
kinson had preached in the morning, perhaps the 
best sermon I have ever heard, undoubtedly one 
of the best, on the duties and privileges of the 
children of God; a subject from which I had 
preached a sermon that I thought laboured: but 
when I saw the vast disproportion between the two 
discourses, and the great advantage on his side; 
and, indeed, considered how much superior it was 
to almost any thing I ever produced, it shamed 
and humbled me; and yet I bless God that it did 
not grieve me. If any stirrings of envy moved, 
they were immediately suppressed; and as soon 
as I came home, I solemnly returned my acknow- 
ledgments to God for having raised up such a 
light in his church, and for having honoured me 



66 SIXTEENTH MEDITATION. 

with his education ; and recommended him to the 
Divine blessing with meltings of the tenderest af- 
fection, leaving myself in the hand of God, acqui- 
escing in the thought of being eclipsed, of being 
neglected, if God should so appoint: at the same 
time adoring him, that, with capacities inferior to 
a multitude of others, I had been led into services 
superior to many of those in comparison with 
whom my knowledge is but as that of a child. 

In the prayer I had much communion with 
God; in the sermon, little or none; but so much 
in the sacrament, that my very heart was almost 
Swallowed up. A variety of plain, solid, and nat- 
ural thoughts sprung in upon my mind, like water 
from a fountain, and gave me unutterable pleas- 
ure. Many of them are vanished away ; some few 
remain, the substance of which were as follow. 

I introduced the ordinance with some medita- 
tions on these words, " Thou hast ascended on 
high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast re- 
ceived gifts for men.". Psalm Ixviii. 18. We are 
met to commemorate the death of Christ, but not 
only his death. There was a sacred pleasure, 
after his resurrection, in beholding the place where 
the Lord lay. But had he never risen, what a 
grief would it have been, on the fourth day, to 
have seen Christ still lying there! In succeeding 
days and ages, what a reproach to Christians — if 
such existed in succeeding ages — to have said to 
them, " Behold the sepulchre of your Lord!" But 
now the reproach of the cross and of the tomb 
has ceased. He has risen; and that is in itself a 
pleasant thought. He has ascended on high ; and 
that is one still more delightful. Had he risen and 
dwelt on earth, we might have rejoiced and gloried 
in him, though we had seen him in the same hum- 



SIXTEENTH MEDITATION. 67 

ble form in which he appeared to Mary Magda- 
lene, or to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. 
But he has gone into heaven, and is at the right 
hand of God. Let us look after him there. When 
Elijah was taken away, Elisha smote his hands 
and exclaimed, " My father, my father, the chariot 
of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!" 2 Kings ii. 
12. But is there reason thus to lament an ascend- 
ed Saviour? We should rather rejoice. The disci- 
ples stood gazing up into heaven; but wherefore? 
One would rather have thought that they should 
have recollected it as a matter of joy, on princi- 
ples of gratitude and interest. Of gratitude ! how 
pleasant to think of the triumph of our friends! If 
a kind and generous friend had exposed his life 
for us, and, instead of perishing in the attempt, 
had found his own advancement in it, surely it 
would have given us peculiar joy; perhaps even 
greater than our own preferment could have done. 
Is it not, then, a matter of congratulation that 
Christ has ascended on high, and sat down at the 
right hand of God; especially when we consider 
how our interest is concerned, both as he has led 
captivity captive, and given gifts to men? He has 
led captivity captive, that is, he has triumphed 
over those who would have triumphed over us. 
Over our enemy, when he thought to have the 
greatest advantage. Even on the cross he tri- 
umphed over death, so that he has abolished it, 
and quickly will it be swallowed up in victory. 
We view death here as a conqueror ; — he has 
made late depredations, for within the last ten 
days two of our members have died, (that is, Mrs. 
Manning and Mrs. Cook;) but yet we triumph over 
Tiim by faith in Christ. Arise, arise, and lead cap- 
tivity captive, O Son of God. We should raise our 



68 SIXTEENTH MEDITATION. 

hosannas to thee from earth. Especially consid- 
ering the gifts received for men ; the extraordinary- 
endowments of the apostles and the evangelists, 
the benefits of which we now receive, and other 
spiritual gifts which are given us in conversion, in 
quickening, and in carrying us on thus far. Why 
have we not fallen as by former difficulties? We 
had never got thus far without support. Had we 
seen them, we should not, perhaps, have had the 
courage to encounter them. And He will impart 
more comforts, so that we may now consider our- 
selves as risen and ascended with him. In the 
mean time, let us go to the throne of grace. 

In breaking the bread, I remarked, How highly 
should we have thought ourselves indebted to 
Christ, if in the days of his flesh he had invited 
us to sup with him ! — Lord, if thou hadst given me 
a crumb of bread, or a cup of cold water, as a 
token of thy love, it had been better to me than 
wine ; better than a feast of fat things : but thou 
^ givest me this bread ; thou comest to sup with me, 
and invitest me to sup with thee ! 

In pouring out the wine, I added, Christ " suf- 
fered, the just for the unjust, that he might bring 
us to God." It is not said, to heaven, but to God, 
to intimate, that those who share in salvation by 
Christ are reconciled to God, and reinstated in his 
favour; his love is shed abroad in your souls, and 
they shall be brought to the eternal enjoyment of 
him. In the mean time, in this dependence let us 
go to God. To him that has loved us ! Pleasing 
gradation; loved me — gave himself for me. But 
when I look around me at his table, what then? 
Could I, then, see all Sion, an assembly of all 
men in every nation, of every kindred and lan- 
guage; above all, could I look within the veil, how 



SEVENTEENTH MEDITATION. 69 

delightful ! O what a joyful universal hosanna will 
arise when all are thus assembled together! 

Such as these were the workings of my heart 
at this most delightful and edifying ordinance. O 
that it may not prove only as a transient blaze of 
the spirits ! but that the happy consequences of it 
may go along with me into all the devotions, and 
into all the services, that lie before me this month ; 
and that I may be prepared for all the will of God. 



MEDITATION XVII. 

THE FIFTY-SEVENTH SACRAMENT, MARCH 2, 1735. 

Happy recollections of communion with God in the offices 
of religion, with thoughts on the joyful duties of grati- 
tude and love. 

This, like yesterday, has been a day of unmerit- 
ed, of unbounded goodness, and I can hardly ex. 
press the sweet communion with God, which I 
had in his house and at his table. I had been dis- 
coursing on communion with him, and, through 
grace, I have felt it. A sermon composed under 
great deadness, and which, when I composed it, I 
had thought very meanly of, was delivered with 
great seriousness, spirit, and pleasure. It was the 
language not merely of my tongue, but of my 
heart. I had communion with God, as my com- 
passionate, wise, almighty, and bountiful Friend; 
with Christ, as my atonement, righteousness, In- 
tercessor, Head, and Forerunner; and adored the 
Divine grace for such manifestations to so guilty 
and wretched a creature. 

I opened the ordinance of the Lord's supper 
7 



70 SEVENTEENTH MEDITATION. 

with some meditations upon the women weeping 
as they followed Christ. They did not know all 
the purposes of his death. They mourned a kind 
and generous Friend; — we mourn a Redeemer; 
for the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all ; — 
he laid on him mine iniquity; perhaps mine alone 
might have sunk him as deep; at least, mine were 
added to the weight. He died for me. If I by 
my folly, had occasioned the death of a dear and 
valuable friend, how would it have wounded my 
soul ! and if I had seen his picture, how would it 
have revived my sorrows! and if, when dying, he 
had sent me some kind token of his forgiveness 
and his love, how would my heart have bled when 
I had seen that token! Behold, it is here! this is 
the token that our dying Saviour sends to us, to 
tell us that he heartily forgives our folly and our 
wickedness, and died that it might be forgiven. 
What return shall I make? — Lord, I will love 
thee. But it is a poor return ; but if I had more 
to give thee, I would do it cheerfully. If I were 
the highest angel in heaven, thou shouldst have all 
my heart. In the mean time, blessed be thy name, 
that I can say I love thee; and that thou knowest 
that, as thou knowest all things; — as Peter, when 
he could not appeal to his actions, as he could 
have wished, appealed to his heart and to Him 
that knew it : " Lord, I wish I could say, that 
thou mayest see by my conduct, that I have loved 
thee: — that I have adhered to thee when all for- 
sook thee; and though brought into the danger of 
dying with thee, yet that I have not denied thee." 
But as he could not say this, he appeals to Christ: 
" Lord, though I cannot clear it up as I could 
wish to men, yet I hope that I can clear it up to 
thee." 



EIGHTEENTH MEDITATION. 71 

In breaking the bread, I said, Is it nothing to 
us? Why, it is something to all around us; how 
much more, then, to us ! Lord, I grieve that I can 
grieve no more. I appeal to thee, that I would 
love thee ; and if my love might grow as affliction 
grows, I would bear as much as ever I could. 

This I wrote as soon as I came home; but 
having been interupted in the memorandums here, 
I forget what followed in pouring out the wine, 
and only remember that it was, on the whole, a 
blessed day. 



MEDITATION XVIII. 

THE FIFTY-NINTH SACRAMENT, MAY 4, 1735. 

Of the connexion of the spiritual blessings with each other, 
with correspondent exhortations, 

I opened the ordinance with some meditations on 
these words: " Blessed be the God and Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with 
all spiritual blessings in Christ: according as he 
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the 
world, that we should be holy and without blame 
before him in love." Eph. i. 3, 4. Let us bless 
God at all times, especially after such medita- 
tions as we have here been engaged in, that we, 
who were afar off, are brought nigh. This is ful- 
filled in this very approach to the Lord's supper, 
where the blood of Christ, which brought us nigh, 
is in so peculiar a manner to be commemorated. 
We have reason to bless God, who herein has 
blessed us with all spiritual blessings. There is a 
chain, and a connexion ; those who are blessed with 



72 EIGHTEENTH MEDITATION. 

one spiritual blessing are blessed with all , — and 
they are the blessings with which the Christian is 
most affected, because in themselves so noble ; and 
because there is such a connexion between them 
and heavenly things; for whom he predestinated, 
he called, justified, and glorified. It is because 
he has chosen us in him, that all those favours 
are bestowed upon us. God does nothing without 
design; — "Known unto God are all his works 
from the beginning of the world;" Acts xv. 18; 
and it is a pleasing thought, that we lay upon the 
heart of Christ before the world was. God gave 
us to him by the covenant of redemption, when he 
chose us. It was of his free grace that he chose 
us all in him; and whatever favour he proposed 
doing he did -on his account; and this was that 
we might be not only morally virtuous, but holy, 
and religipus, upon scriptural principles ; and also 
that we might be without blame; cutting off occa- 
sion from those who might seek to speak evil of 
us, and of religion f and all this in love, which 
must be the principle of our obedience; — love to 
God, and love to each other. Love — the blessed 
abridgement of all piety, and which this ordinance 
has a most apparent tendency to promote. 

In the prayer, we humbled ourselves deeply 
before God, reflecting, particularly, that we could 
not have believed on the last sacrament day, that 
we should thus have forsaken him before the re- 
turn of this. 

When we came to break the bread we observed, 
that God and the devil are represented as carrying 
on the work of bruising Christ, though with dif- 
ferent aims and purposes — the one full of grace, 
the other of malignity. Here God took the cun- 
ning in his own craftiness, and " out of the eater 



EIGHTEENTH MEDITATION. 73 

came forth meat." Instead of our being deterred 
from trusting in Christ by what he has suffered, 
we are engaged to trust in him the more. Blessed 
Lord, we commit ourselves to thee, who wast thus 
reviled to bring us to glory; and seek our lives 
from thee, who didst die. 

Before filling the cup, I mentioned our having 
access to the most holy place by the blood of 
Christ; in token of which the veil of the temple, 
though thick with embroidery, was rent asunder. 
Let us, by faith, look inward to that which is 
within it, and draw nigh in a full assurance of 
faith. Surely, if we have boldness to enter into 
the holiest by the blood of Jesus, we may have 
some peculiar ardour when drawing near to God 
in this blessed and holy ordinance*; and in this 
part of it, accordingly, the prayer was principally 
taken up in pleading promises of pardon, "of sane? 
tification, conduct, direction, support, arid the im- 
parting of every good thing, of perseverance, and 
glory; and afterwards I saifl. Why should we 
doubt of them? Because we are sinners? Those 
promises are, many of them, such that they could 
be made only to sinful creatures. 

I know not when I have remembered our con- 
cerns as a church with more pleasure than at this 
ordinance. On the whole, it was a season of some 
comfort especially in the advance of it, though 
my mind was greatly distracted at the beginning. 
Many acknowledged the presence of God with 
them in the duties of the day : may all the praise 
be ascribed to him. 



7# 



( 74 ) 



MEDITATION XIX. 

THE FIFTY-FOURTH SACRAMENT, SEPTEMBER 7, 1735. 

Of the Divine mercy in the scheme of redemption, with 
solemn thoughts on our personal responsibility for the 
sufferings of Christ 

The ordinance was introduced with some reflec- 
, tions .on those words, "All the promises of God 
in him are yea, and in him Amen." 2 Cor. i. 20. 
I had been discoursing on the struggle between 
faith and unbelief, in a precious soul; and I 
thought this a proper sequel. The promises of 
God may be said to be yea and amen in Christ, 
as it is through him that they are all made. 
Whatever security they give us is to be ascribed 
to him, because we had otherwise been treated as 
heirs of wrath; and he takes it upon himself to 
see to the performance of them, being exalted by 
God for that very purpose. And although nothing 
can be a greater security than the Divine fidelity, 
yet it sometimes suits our infirmities, and it helps 
our faith, to see such a step taken towards the 
performance of the Divine promises; — that such 
a gracious instrument should have been raised 
up, and endued with such extraordinary power. 
Therefore our faith may justly take its rise from 
hence, and we may encourage ourselves to hope 
for those blessings concerning which we might else 
have been most ready to doubt. Although my 
sins be ever so great, when I look on the blood of 
Christ, I can believe that they may be pardoned. 
Whatever difficulties arise, his, power and his 



NINETEENTH MEDITATION. 75 

grace can support me; and his wisdom can turn 
to good whatever calamities I now endure. Where 
was any thing over which one would have been 
more tempted to suspect that providence had slept, 
than in this great scene of the death and suffer- 
ings of Christ? And yet they were accomplished 
by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of 
God, and overruled to the most gracious pur- 
poses. And, surely, when we consider the pro- 
mise of eternal glory, as sealed in the blood of ' 
Christ, — it is so noble a price, that we may ex- 
pect that the purchase will indeed be glorious; 
and unworthy as we are ourselves, we may hope ■ 
for heaven, in the worthiness of Jesus Christ. 

In breaking the bread, I remarked, " He was 
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised 
for our iniquities." Isa. liii. 5. Should not the 
thought grieve us? When Christ came into our 
world, and behaved in such a manner in it, we 
might have expected that he would have been re- 
ceived with the utmost affection; that when the 
eye saw him, the voice should have blessed him ; 
and that, if there had been one mouth that could 
have reviled him, one hand that could have struck 
or wounded him, it had been grievous ; much more 
so, that he should have been slain, although it had 
been but by one person : how much more so, when 
such vast multitudes were so concerned, that every 
one of them made it his own act, to have killed the 
Prince of life! Vast multitudes were, indeed, the 
occasion of that crime, and we are of the number 
yet ! And yet he spoke in mercy to those who 
were his betrayers and his murderers; the word 
of this salvation by him was even sent to them ! 
Think of our own concern in his death: had the 
earth been only the scene of his sufferings, and 



76 NINETEENTH MEDITATION. 

had he died here for another order of beings, it 
would have well become us to have thought often 
on so wonderful a transaction ; how much the more 
so, when it was that he might redeem us by his 
own blood ! 

When pouring out the wine, I observed, that 
had a malefactor been executed as Christ was for 
the murder of the dearest and best of our friends, 
or for the most horrible treason against our coun- 
try, yet we could hardly have borne to have seen 
some circumstances of the rage and cruelty with 
which he was treated ; it would have turned even 
justice into gall: but if we had seen an innocent 
person, if we had seen a friend, thus handled, 
what indignation, what distress would have arisen 
in our minds! Surely, if a person of a very dis- 
solute and abandoned character had, in a fit of 
intoxication, been drawn in to have been a party 
in such a crime, he must have been exceedingly 
shocked in the review. Here, then, let our tears 
flow; here let our indignation arise, and that, 
against ourselves! 

I concluded this ordinance with an exhortation 
to the greatest care, that we may live as under the 
influence of the dying love of Christ: and that it 
is our duty to recollect the particular frailties and 
temptations of our more serious relations in life, 
so that we may be armed with correspondent reso- 
lutions and engagements. Here, the exhortation 
was warm; and speaking of the concern with 
which ministers should declare these things, I 
mentioned the zeal of the apostles when they came 
to preach a crucified, yet a risen, Redeemer; and 
prayed earnestly that the like impressions might, 
by the same Spirit, be made upon our hearts. 



( 77 ) 



MEDITATION XX. 

THE SIXTY-FIFTH SACRAMENT, OCTOBER 5, 1735. 

How the favour of God, and the hopes of the gospel, may 
render a Christian superior to the trials and sorrows of 
the world. 

I opened the ordinance with some meditations on 
these words, "Thou preparest a table before me 
in the presence of mine enemies." Psalm xxiii. 5. 
Here is a table spread, a table of provisions, which 
may, indeed, to an eye of sense, seem but of little 
value ; yet, to the believing eye of faith, in con- 
nexion with the purposes for which they are ap- 
pointed, the value of them is inestimably great, as 
that of parchment and of wax may become in 
being made the conveyance of some vast estate. 
God has prepared this table : to spread it was not 
a sudden thing, the work of an hour, or of a day : 
14 Known unto God are all his works from the be- 
ginning of the world;" Acts xv. 18; and all seem 
to have been centred in this; therefore, was the 
way prepared by so many prophecies ; by so 
many types; but, through the singular goodness 
of God, the dearest discoveries have been reserved 
for us. Never did God say concerning the pass- 
over, This is the representation of my Son, who 
is to be made a sacrifice for sin; this seals to you 
the covenant of grace, to be established in the 
blood of that immaculate Lamb, the most excel- 
lent dispenser of this most valuable covenant; — 
this was happily reserved for us. And this table 
is prepared for us " in the presence of our ene- 



78 TWENTIETH MEDITATION. 

mies." Scripture represents a band of formidable 
spirits as engaged for our ruin : they urged on the 
death of Christ, but found their own disappoint- 
ment and defeat in it; and, no doubt, they look 
with envy and rage on the work of our redemp- 
tion, and all the memorials of it. God anoints 
our head as with oil in this ordinance; we receive 
the effusion of that blessed Spirit from Christ our 
Head, of which it may be said, that it is like the 
oil poured out on the head of Aaron, which ran 
down to his beard, and thence to the skirts of his 
garment. And we may truly say, that our cup 
runs over. God bestows upon us, not only a suffi- 
ciency, but a superfluity of blessings. We might 
have had eternal reason to have adored his good- 
ness had he done much less than this. Had he 
continued us in this present life, free from its de- 
cays and its calamities, and favoured us with an 
eternal duration of those pleasures of friendship 
and devotion which we here enjoy, it would have 
been matter of grateful acknowledgment; much 
more so, had he given us the entertainments of 
holy and separate spirits, although the body had 
been lost in the grave; but he graciously adds the 
happiness of that to the happiness of the soul, and 
thus makes our whole person completely blessed. 
How reasonably may we then conclude, that surely 
" goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days 
of our lives ;" for what can we imagine so valua- 
ble, that God would compare it with, or prefer it 
to, his Son? Should our days be gloomy, afflicted, 
unprofitable, and useless, still shall mercy and 
goodness follow them; and, what is best of all, 
we shall " dwell in the house of the Lord for 
ever." It would be a great favour to be allowed 
every day to spend an hour in God's house with 



TWENTIETH MEDITATION. 79 

such delight as we have sometimes, and I hope 
this day, done; much better than to enjoy a great 
estate, or than any of the delights of sense. But 
God will bring his children home, and there they 
shall dwell for ever! Reviving thought! We may 
arise from the table of the Lord with satisfaction ; 
nay, in this view, we might take our last leave of 
it with pleasure; yes, with far greater and more 
reasonable pleasure than the Jews took their leave 
of the Mosaic tabernacle, that they might go and* 
worship God in his temple at Jerusalem. 

In breaking the bread, I said, Blessed Jesus, 
had we only seen thee m a mortal form, at a table 
with the children of men, although it had beeri 
under a golden canopy, and every luxury of Aha- 
suerus' feast had been renewed; though the chil- 
dren of princes had been waiting upon thee, and 
all the kings and emperors on the earth had been 
sitting with thee; though the greatest delicacies 
of animal nature had been exhausted for thine 
entertainment, what a condescension had it been ! 
especially, if thou hadst here instructed them in a 
way of virtue and of happiness ; but how much 
more at a paschal table, when telling thy disciples 
of thy body broken, and thy blood shed! How 
important must the case be! An angel would not 
have descended from heaven, nor dwelt one day 
in a mortal form on the earth, upon any mean 
and low occasion; how much less, then, the Lord 
of angels ! 

In pouring out the wine, I said, We have bold- 
ness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. 
To think of the blood of Jesus poured out is won- 
derful ; to think of it in this connexion, and that 
without it we might have had no boldness. Had 
we arrived at the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, 



80 TWENTY-FIRST MEDITATION. 

we might have stopped short, as some poor naked 
beggar at the door of the presence chamber of a 
king ; but now, we are encouraged to make our ap- 
proach as those who may hope to worship there. 

In taking the cup, I remarked, We commemo- 
rate thy death, blessed Jesus; nor would we be 
ashamed nor afraid to do so, if we were surround- 
ed with thy blaspheming and persecuting enemies, 
and although we might be led out to share thy 
cross, for we are ready to take it with thy crown. 

I addressed the spectators with an expostulation 
on the folly of continuing irresolute, and of absent- 
ing themselves, without due cause, from the table 
of the Lord. 

I bless God, that I had some comfortable com- 
munion with him this day., and could say> that it 
was good for me to be there. 



MEDITATION XXI. 

THE SIXTY-EIGHTH SACRAMENT, NOVEMBER 2, 1735. 

Love to the Redeemer will insure the obedience of a Chris- 
tian to the precepts of his law, and to such are promised 
the constant support of the Divine presence, 

" If a man love me, he will keep my words; and 
my Father will love him, and we will come unto 
him, and make our abode with him." John xiv. 23. 
Christians you will observe that we are not sur- 
veying the duties and privileges of the most emi- 
nent and distinguished saints, but those of every 
Christian. It is his character, who will keep the 
words of Christ; who will receive them; who 
will retain them; who will reflect upon thtm, and 



TWENTY-FIRST MEDITATION. 81 

who will act in a humble subjection to them; — 
and this very thought, that they are the words of 
Christ, will be enough for him; a Divine power 
will attend them, and a humble obedience will be 
immediately produced. 

I hope we know what this character means : if 
we do, we are happy. " If any man love me, he 
will keep my words: and my Father will love 
him." Amazing condescension, that the great 
eternal Father should love a poor sinful worm! 
But this he will do; and love him in such a man- 
ner as to become his invariable friend f and O, 
what a happiness? Although some may slight me; 
although others may censure me; although others 
hate me; even though all the rage of earth and 
hell unite against me, yet if God loves me, it is 
enough! How much more, if he dwells with me; 
and Christ likewise! Yet this is the promise, 
" We will come unto him." I hope it is fulfilled; 
I hope that Christ has come to us this day in 
meditation, retirement, and prayer; and is coming 
to his table. And " we will come unto him, and 
make our abode with him!" O this crowns all! 
To have God, not as a transient visitor, but to 
have him as our constant Friend; what a blessed 
boon does it bestow ! And has not God for some 
time made his abode in our hearts? Surely, if he 
had not, we had drooped and perished long ago. 
We may hope that he will dwell there for ever; 
and O, what a delight it should be to us ! We are 
ready to say, " Lord, they were happy to whom 
thou didst come in the days of thy flesh; with 
whom thou didst make thine abode. How should 
we have rejoiced in that happiness, and loved the 
very house wherein thou didst dwell, the very 
room where we had had converse with thee!" 
8 



82 TWENTY-SECOND MEDITATION. 

But, upon the whole, Christ might answer to us, 
as he did to the woman that fondly cried out, 
< fc Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the 
paps which thou hast sucked;" "Yea, rather, 
blessed are they that hear the word of God, and 
keep it." Luke xi. 27, 28. 

In breaking the bread I observed, among many 
other things, the emphasis of those words, "With 
his stripes we are healed." Isa. liii. 5. The re- 
covery is already begun in every gracious soul ; 
and it is the pledge of an entire cure. Yet a little 
whjle., and all the remaining diseases of the soul 
shalkbe entirely done away with; and all imper- 
fection and sorrow shall give way to the complete 
manifestation of the sons of God, in a world of 
everlasting joy and glory. 

Other meditations were added, but having been 
interrupted, when writing this, and not having 
made any other memorandum of them, they have 
now slippeeTfrom my memory. 



MEDITATION XXII. 

THE SIXTY-NINTH SACRAMENT, DECEMBER 6, 1735. 

Christians thankful and happy under the promise that they 
shall share in the heavenly felicity of Christ. 

This was the last sacrament day in which my 
dear friend and brother, Mr. Isaac Wilkinson, of 
whom the world is not worthy, continued with me, 
under the relation of an assistant. He preached 
in the morning, from these words, "We rejoice in 
Christ Jesus." Phil. iii. 3. And I preached in the 
afternoon, of " God being glorified by Christ." 



TWENTY-SECOND MEDITATION. 83 

I introduced the ordinance of the Lord's supper 
with some reflections on those words in John, 
" Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast 
given me, be with me where I am." John xvii. 24. 
I observed the language by which Christians are 
described, as those whom the Father hath given 
him; thereby, probably, referring to the covenant 
of election. How happy a thought is it, if we are 
interested therein! Christ prays, that they may 
be with him where he is. To be with Christ -in 
any circumstances must appear delightful; how 
much more so in heaven! The apostle's faith 
was so strong, that he considered himselt as 
already there, and overlooked all the distance,^! 
the darkness, and all the suffering that interposed. 
Amiable example for our faith to follow, wherein 
the apostle assists us, when he speaks of Us as 
raised up together with him, and set in heavenly 
places, that we may behold the glory of Christ. It 
was not merely out of ostentation, but as he knew 
the happiness that it would carry along with it* to 
see the Holy One in our own nature; our great 
Benefactor, and our Almighty Guardian ; on ac- 
count of which we should look upon it as the 
pledge and security of our own glory. With re- 
gard to this he speaks in the most positive terms, 
and yet very consistently with the most perfect 
submission : " Father, I will, that those whom 
thou hast given me be with me where I am:" I 
do not only pray for it, but I claim it; I humbly 
enter my demand on this head. Blessed souls, to 
whom this promise is sealed ! Gracious Saviour, 
that offered such a petition ! 

In breaking the bread, I observed, — Christ in- 
stituted this ordinance that we might remember 
him. I hope that we know the pleasure of re- 



84 TWENTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 

membering him, and how our remembrance of 
him has been assisted at it; how our faith has 
been thus helped, and all our other graces propor- 
tionably strengthened. 

I particularly insisted, in drinking from the cup, 
on our putting ourselves and all our concerns into 
the hands of Christ. Our covenant engagement 
is to serve Christ; our covenant hope is to enjoy 
him ; but whether it be in this world, or in an- 
other, is a matter not worth contesting between 
such lovers and such friends. 



MEDITATION XXIII. 

THE SEVENTY-EIGHTH SACRAMENT, OCTOBER 3, 1736. 
DEAR BETSEY DEAD.* 

The Christian secure under the covenant of the gospel and 
the guardianship of the Redeemer, Written under the 
immediate pressure of the most severe domestic affliction 
that Dr. Doddridge was ever called upon to suffer^ and 
containing many interesting and pathetic particulars, 

I had preached in the bitterness of my heart from 
these words: " Is it well with thy husband? is it 

* The following extract from the Diary of Dr. Dod- 
dridge is here subjoined, as affording an explanation of 
some particulars alluded to in the text. 

REFLECTIONS ON THE DEATH OF MY DEAR CHILD, AND THE 
MANY MOURNFUL PEOVIDENCES ATTENDING IT. 

I have a great deal of reason to condemn my own negli- 
gence and folly, that for so many months I have entered 
no memorandums of what has passed between God and 
my soul, although some of the transactions were very re- 
markable, as well as some things whioh I have heard con- 

y . . * *. 

'•• ■ . • 

•. i - 



TWENTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 85 

well with the child? And she answered, It is 
well." 2 Kings iv. 26. I endeavoured to show 
the reason there was to say this; but surely there 
was never any dispensation of Providence in 

cerning others ; but the subject of this article is the most 
melancholy of any. We lost my dear and reverend brother 
and friend, Mr. Sanders, on the 31st of July last; on the 
1st of September, Lady Russell — that invaluable friend, 
died at Reading, on her road from Bath ; and on Friday, 
the 1st of October, God was pleased, by a most awful 
stroke, to take away my eldest, dearest child, my lovely 
Betsey. She was formed to strike my affections in the 
most powerful manner; such a person, genius, and temper, 
as I admired even beyond their real importance, so that 
indeed I doted upon her, and was for many months before 
her death in a great degree of bondage upon her account. 
She was taken ill at Newport about the middle of June, 
and from thence to the day of her death, she was my con- 
tinual thought, and almost uninterrupted care. God only 
knows with what earnestness and importunity I prostrated 
myself before him to beg her life, which I would have 
been willing almost to have purchased with my own. 
When reduced to the lowest degree of languishment by a 
consumption, I could not forbear looking in upon her 
almost every hour. I saw her with the strongest mixture 
of anguish and delight; no chemist ever watched his cru- 
cible with greater care, when he expected the production 
of the philosopher's stone, than I watched her in all the 
various turns of her distemper, which at last grew utterly 
hopeless, and then no language can express the agony into 
which it threw me. One remarkable circumstance I can- 
not but recollect : in praying most affectionately, perhaps 
too earnestly, for her life, these words came into my mind 
with great power, " Speak no more to me of this matter." 
I was unwilling to take them, and went into the chamber 
to see my dear lamb, when, instead of receiving me with 
her usual tenderness, she looked upon me with a stern air, 
and said, with a very remarkable determination of voice, 
" I have no more to say to you;" and I think that from that 
time, although she lived at least ten days, she seldom look- 
ed upon me with pleasure, or cared to suffer me to come 
near her. But tfe^V I might feel all the bitterness of the 
8* f 4 

* f 



86 TWENTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 

which I found it so hard, for my very soul had 
been overwhelmed within me. Indeed, some hard 
thoughts of God were ready to arise ; and the ap- 
prehension of his heavy displeasure, and the fear 

affliction, Providence so ordered it, that I came in when 
her sharpest agonies were upon her, and those words, " O 
dear, O dear, wjiat shall I do?" rung in my ears for suc- 
ceeding hours and days. But God delivered her, — and 
she, without any violent pang in the article of her dissolu- 
tion, quietly and sweetly fell asleep, as I hope, in Jesus, 
about ten at night, I being then at Maidwell. When I 
came home, my mind was under a dark cloud relating to 
her eternal state ; but God was pleased graciously to re- 
move it, and gave me comfortable hopes, after having felt 
the most heart-rending sorrow. My dear wife bore the 
affliction in the most glorious manner, and discovered 
more wisdom, and piety, and steadiness of temper in a 
few days, than I had ever in six years an opportunity of 
observing before. O my soul, God has blasted thy gourd ; 
thy greatest earthly delight is gone: seek it in heaven, 
where I hope this dear babe is ; where I am sure that my 
Saviour is; and where I trust, through grace, notwith- 
standing all this irregularity of temper and of heart, that 
I shall shortly be. 

Sunday, October 3, 1736. 

FURTHER REFLECTIONS AFTER THE FUNERAL OF MY DEAR 
BETSEY. 

I have now been laying the delight of my eyes in the 
dust, and it is for ever hidden from them. My heart was 
too full to weep much. We had a suitable sermon from 
these words: ( * Doest thou well to be angry;" Jonah iv. 4; 
because of the gourd ? I hope God knows that I am not 
angry; but sorrowful he surely allows me to be. I could 
have wished that more had been said concerning the hope 
we may have of our child; and it was a great disappoint- 
ment to me that nothing of that kind should have been 
said by one that loved her so well as my brother Hunt did. 
Yet, I bless God, I have my hopes that she is lodged in 
the arms of Christ. And there was an occurrence that I 
took much notice of; I was most earnestly praying that 
God would be pleased to give me some further encourage- 



TWENTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 87 

of my child's future state, added fuel to the fire. 
Upon the whole, my mind was in the most painful 
agitation; but it pleased God, that, in composing 
the sermon, my soul became quieted, and I was 

ment on this head, by letting some new light, or by direct- 
ing me to some further thoughts upon the subject. Soon 
after, as I came into my wife's chamber, she told me that 
our maid Betty, who had, indeed the affection of a parent 
for my dear girl, had just before assured her, that, on the 
Sabbath day evening, Betsey would be repeating to her- 
self some things of what she had heard in my prayers 
and in my preaching, but did not care to talk of it to 
others ; and my wife assured me that she solemnly recom- 
mended herself to God in the words that I had taught her 
a little before she died. Blessed God, hast thou not re- 
ceived her? I trust that thou hast, and pardoned the in- 
firmities of her poor, short, childish, afflicted life. I hope, 
in some measure out of love to me, as thy servant, thou 
hast done it for Christ's sake; and I would consider the 
very hope, as an engagement to thy future service. Lord, 
I love those who were kind to my child, and those that 
w r ept with me for her; shall I not much more love thee, 
who, I hope, art at this moment taking care of her, and 
opening her infant faculties for the duties and blessedness 
of heaven. 

Lord, I would consider myself as a dying creature. My 
first-born is gone; — my beloved child is laid in bed before 
me. I have often followed her to her bed in a literal sense; 
and shortly I shall follow her to that, where we shall lie 
down together, and our rest shall be together in the dust. 
In a literal sense, the grave is ready for me. My grave 
is made — I have looked into it — a dear part of myself is 
already there; and when I stood at the Lord's table I 
stood directly over it. It is some pleasure to me to think 
that my dust will be lodged near that of my dear lamb, 
how much more to hope that my soul will rest with hers, 
and rejoice in her for ever! But, O, let me not centre my 
thoughts even here; it is a rest with, and in God, that is 
my ultimate hope. Lord, may thy grace secure it to me ! 
and in the mean time give me some holy acquiescence of 
soul in thee ; and although my gourd be withered, yet 
shelter me under the shadow of thy wings. 

October 4, 1736. 



88 TWENTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 

brought into a more silent and cordial submission 
to the Divine will. 

At the table I discoursed on these words, "Al- 
though my house be not so with God." 2 Samuel 
xxiii. 5. I observed, that domestic calamities may 
befall good men in their journey through life, and 
particularly in relation to their children; but that 
they have a refuge in God's covenant; it is ever- 
lasting; it is sure: it is well ordered — every pro- 
vision is made according to our necessities; and it 
shall be our salvation, as it is the object of our 
most affectionate regard. 

Qne further circumstance I must record ; and 
that is, that I here solemnly recollected that I had, 
in a former sacrament taken the cup with these 
words, " Lord, I take this cup as a public and 
solemn token that I will refuse no other cup which 
thou shalt puf into my hand." I mentioned this 
recollection, and charged it publicly on myself 
and .my Christian* friends. God has taken me at 
my word, but I do not retract it ; I repeat it again 
with regard to every future cup. 

I am just come from the coffin of my dear 
child, who seems to be sweetly asleep there, with 
a serene, composed, delightful countenance, once 
how animated with double life! There — lo! O 
my soul! lo there! is thine idol laid still in death 
— the creature which stood next to God in thine 
heart; to whom it was opened with a fond and 
flattering delight. Methinks I would learn to be 
dead with her— dead to the world. O that I could 
be dead with her! not any further than that her 
dear memory may promote my living to God.* 

* The following note was written in the margin of the 
manuscript by the late Rev. Thomas Stedman : " I think 
I have heard that the doctor wrote his funeral sermon for 
his daughter, or a part of it, upon her coffin." 



TWENTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 89 

I had a great deal of very edifying conversation 
last night and this morning with my wife, whose 
wisdom does indeed make her face to shine under 
this affliction. She is supported and animated 
with a courage which seems not at all natural to 
her: talks with the utmost freedom, and has really 
said many of the most useful things that ever were 
said to me by any person upon the earth, both as 
to consolation and admonition. Had the best 
things I have read on the subject been collected 
tegether, they could hardly have been better con- 
ceived or better expressed. This is to me very 
surprising, when I consider her usual reserve. I 
have all imaginable reason to believe that God 
will make this affliction a great blessing to her, 
and I hope it may prove so to me. There was a 
fond delight and complacence which I took in 
Betsey beyond any thing living. Although she 
had not a tenth part of that rational, manly love, 
which I pay to her mamma, and%nany surviving 
friends; yet it leaves a peculiar pain upon my 
heart, and it is almost as if my very gall were 
poured out upon the earth. Yet much sweetness 
mingles itself with this bitter potion, chiefly in the 
view and hope of my speedy removal to the eter- 
nal world. May it not be the beauty of this pro- 
vidence, that instead of her living many years 
upon the earth, God may have taken away my 
child that I might be fitted for and reconciled to 
my own dissolution, perhaps nearly approaching? 
I verily believe that I shall meet her there, and 
enjoy much more of her in heaven than I should 
have done had she survived me on earth. Lord, 
thy will be done; may my life be used for thy 
service while continued, and then put thou a period 
to it whenever thou pleasest. 



( 90 ) 
MEDITATION XXIV. 

THE SEVENTY-NINTH SACRAMENT, NOVEMBER 7, 1736. 

The mournful recollections of affliction assuaged by con- » 
templations on the love and sufferings of Christ, 

I approached this ordinance with solemn and im- 
portunate prayer for the Divine presence, and I 
desire thankfully to record, that this prayer was 
not in vain. Perhaps I may say, that I never 
knew what it was to enjoy more of God than I this 
day enjoyed. Perhaps more of heaven is not to 
be brought down upon the earth. I write it with 
some amazement, that I stood upon the grave of 
my dear Betsey, and thought of that lovely crea- 
ture, that was once, next to God, on the throne of 
my heart, with very little emotion. The loss of 
so amiable a child seemed hardly worth mention- 
ing between God and my soul, when I saw before 
my eyes the memorials of a Redeemer's dying 
love ; when I looked forward towards that heavenly 
world, to which I verily believe that God is con- 
ducting me, to which I apprehend that he will 
shortly bring me; — and I heartily subscribe my 
Amen to it. 

Having discoursed in the pulpit on Christ, as 
the fountain opened, in which to wash from sin 
and from uncleanness, I introduced the ordinance 
with some reflections on that petition of the leper, 
" Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." 
Matt. viii. 2. I observed, that he was sensible of 
his malady; that he apprehended himself polluted; 
and that the best souls will apprehend it most. He 



TWENTY-FOURTH MEDITATION 91 

applied therefore, to Christ, with a full persuasion 
of his power, although it were professedly the work 
of a God to do it. It is of great importance to ap- 
proach this ordinance, believing that Christ can do 
it; and believing that he will do it. In the dying 
hour, then he will lay his hand upon us, and say, 
"I will that thou be perfectly clean; for ever 
clean." Blessed expectation ! happy hour ! How 
well is it worth our while to pass through every 
trial and agony in our way to it, that we may 
leave these polluted garments of flesh in the grave, 
and arise holy and immortal, into the heavenly 
presence. 

When breaking the bread, I reflected that how, 
without that breaking of Christ's body, we had 
been crushed with the weight of the Divine ven- 
geance. What was his love in instituting the or- 
dinance! perhaps particularly foreseeing our plea- 
sure in it; at least, seeing and causing it now, and 
rejoicing in our joy. We are pleased to see our 
friends cheerful at our table; pleased with our en- 
tertainment; much more is Christ so: therefore is 
he represented with amazing condescension, re- 
joicing as a bridegroom over his bride; and as 
joying over us with singing. 

When taking the cup, I particularly insisted on 
our being made free by Christ from the devil, from 
worldly entanglements, corrupted affections, and 
the everlasting curse of God. We have, perhaps, 
a warm sense of liberty ; what liberty can be com- 
pared with this? Lord, the desire of our souls is 
to the remembrance of thy name; it is the great 
thing that we would desire to have; a more affec- 
tionate remembrance of thee. Were I to choose 
a text for my last sermon, it should be this, 
" Whether present or absent, we may be accepted 



92 TWENTY-FIFTH MEDITATION. 

of him." 2 Cor. v. 5. Delightful thought! that 
this labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. 



MEDITATION XXV. 

THE EIGHTY-SECOND SACRAMENT, FEBRUARY 6, 1737. 

Death swallowed up in victory by the sacrifice of the 
Redeemer, 

I opened the ordinance with some reflections on 
those words, " Come, see the place where the Lord 
lay." •• Matt, xxviii. 6. Look into the grave of 
Christ. See how low the justice of God hath laid 
him! Amazing sight, that the Lord of life should 
thus become as & dead corpse. Think how he lay 
in the abasement of the tomb. This his lowest 
humiliation; this the lowest state in which the 
human creature ever appears until putrefaction 
takes place. To this an eye of sense would have 
thought that he had been tending; but see from 
whence the faithfulness of God exalted him. He 
broke the bonds of death, by which it was impossi- 
ble that he should long be held. Vain were the 
impotent attempts of sealing the sepulchre, and 
setting a watch. The angel broke the tomb, and 
dissipated the astonished guard; the sleeping Con- 
queror arose! Arose, to return no more to death. 
Not like Lazarus, therefore, coming forth in the 
dress of the dead; but, on the contrary, clothed 
with immortal life and vigour. He lives! He 
reigns ! and has the keys of death and of the un- 
seen world. Delightful thought! See the place 
where we must lie. Be it so. Death has no ter- 
ror. The grave has lost its darkest gloom since 
Christ was laid in it. He left a perfume behind 
him, which, instead of the prison of the Divine 



TWENTY-SIXTH MEDITATION. 93 

justice, makes it an easy bed to the believer. Well 
may we be willing to lie down in it, for he will 
surely bring us up again. He rose as a public 
signal ; and when we have lain refining a while in 
it, he will surely bring us up again. This table 
has often changed its guests; many are fallen 
asleep in Christ, but they have not therefore per- 
ished. God is their God, although they lie in 
the dust, and will appear to be so. O blessed 
assembly and congregation ! Thus shall the risen 
saint look down upon the grave like Israel on the 
Red Sea. Come, see the place where the. people 
of Christ lay. See how entirely all the spoils are 
recovered, and not a fragment left behind. 

In breaking the bread, I mentioned those words, . 
"He hath abolished death." 2 Tim. i. 10. He 
has made it as nothing. Compare the death of 
the saint, and of the sinner. See the sinner trem- 
bling like cardinal Beaufort, who, when he died, 
did not lift up his hand to express any hope, with 
what we have seen, and I hope shall feel, of the 
saints' triumphing over death, and rejoicing in 
Christ, when breathing out their souls into his 
hands, and saying, " Lord, now lettest now thy 
servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Luke ii. 
29, 30. 



MEDITATION XXVI. 

THE EIGHTY-THIRD SACRAMENT, MAY 8, 1737. 

The people of God as consecrated to his service. 

The subject of my discourse was, "I, if I be lifted 
up from the earth, will draw all men unto me;" 
9 



94 TWENTY-SIXTH MEDITATION. 

John xii. 32 ; and the subject of my meditation at 
the Lord's table was, " Gather my saints together 
unto me; those that have made a covenant with 
me by sacrifice." Psalm 1. 5. I observed, that 
the people of God are represented as saints. This 
is an instructive thought. They are separated 
from the pollutions and vanities of the world, and 
entirely set apart to God, that they may be for 
him alone, and not for another; they are conse- 
crated to him. They have made a covenant with 
him; a covenant in which they take him for their 
covenant God ; give up all other expectations and 
dependences, and give themselves to him as his 
covenant people. They make a covenant with 
him by sacrifice; that is, they join themselves to 
him. by the sacrifice of his Son. It is their very 
business at the table of the Lord, which is to be 
considered as a feast on a sacrifice. God will 
gather us together. He does it now; and it is a 
comfort much greater than to eat and drink these 
elements in secret would be. But then it is to be 
remembered, that there is another general assem- 
bly. Lord, " gather not my soul with sinners." 
There, where a particular scrutiny will be made, 
may our souls be bound up in the bundle of life. 
With what joy shall we then appear together, 
when not one soul will be wanting! 

In breaking the bread, I observed, " Draw me, 
we will run after thee." Solomon's Song i. 4. May 
the Spirit sanctify and support us. On the whole, 
I found my heart too dead in much of this service. 
And I said few things in it which I can recollect 
as deserving a place here. Lord, forgive me. 
Lord, reform me. Lord, raise me to thyself; and 
fit me for thy ordinances on the earth, and for a 
state above the want of them ! 



( 95 ) 
MEDITATION XXVII. 

THE EIGHTY-SEVENTH SACRAMENT, JULY 3, 1737. 

The importance of the ordinance; and of the extraordinary 
mercy of God in the plan of Redemption. 

Few days of my life have been crowned with 
greater mercies than this, if I may reckon the 
preservation of my wife, the birth of a child,'. and, 
what is infinitely more than either, the communi- 
cation of the most delightful consolations of God's 
presence, in the number of mercies. 

I was much indisposed in the morning, yet not 
altogether without suitable supplies of strength and 
comfort. This evening I attended the Lord's table, 
and introduced the ordinance with those words of 
Christ. " My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood 
is drink indeed;" John vi. 55.,' which in a literal 
sense would be perfectly absurd, but in a spiritual, 
contain the most excellent and important truths. 
Christ speaks of objects as appearing in the light, 
not of sense, but of faith ; and, therefore, represents 
all other kinds of meat and drink as nothing when 
compared with this. It is the most excellent meat 
and drink. A man had better want any kind of 
food than this. Does it appear thus welcome to 
us? Let us bless God that he gives us this food, 
and that he gives us that communication of his 
Spirit whereby we should be engaged to feed upon 
it with delight. Do we owe our thanks to God for 
our daily bread? How much more, then, for this ! 
What if we had been present, and almost dying 
with a parching thirst, when Moses brought water 



96 TWENTY-SEVENTH MEDITATION. 

from the rock, would not that miracle have affected 
us? It would have became us to have owned the 
Divine goodness in that respect; but O how much 
more in the present ! Imagine yourselves standing 
around the rock. How would it have impressed 
you, that God should have given you that drink ! 
much more may this. Nor is the way less won- 
derful of obtaining this drink that revives the soul. 
It was more probable he should thus have smitten 
the rock, than that he should have smitten his own 
Son! Who would at such a cost have manifested 
his love? Would we have fed a perishing friend 
with our flesh? should we part even with a limb, 
it would be great proof of love, Would we open 
the vital sluice of our blood to give him drink? 
Perhaps we might; but for whom? Surely, only 
for one of a thousand, and that the dearest and 
most amiable creature. But Christ did this for us, 
when we were enemies, and rebels, and that he 
might give life to our souls, and that we might not 
die. Yet our fathers are dead that ate this bread, as 
well as those that ate the manna in the wilderness. 
True. But yet they all live to God ; and the last 
day will make it appear that the blood of Christ 
has not lost its efficacy with regard to any one of 
them. 

In breaking the bread, I spoke of the pleasure 
of meeting Christ. When a friend has done us a 
kind office, we rejoice to thank him; but O, what 
are all the kind offices of our earthly friends to 
those that we receive from Christ! Let us thank 
him, let us adore his goodness. O blessed day, 
when we shall see him! Nay, but even now we 
may do it as well. We ourselves, and all our sen- 
timents and actions, are now as open to the eye 
and observation of Christ as they will ever be; 



TWENTY-EIGHTH MEDITATION. 97 

let us, then, lift up our hearts immediately to him, 
and breathe out all the grateful sentiments of our 
souls before him. 

At taking the cup, I observed, There is some- 
thing moving in the sight of human blood, but 
how much more so if it were the blood of a friend 
who had been slain by treachery and cruelty! 
And did we come to the place, and see his blood 
lying there, would it not penetrate our hearts? 
We should perhaps, in a transport of tenderness, 
dip our hankerchief in the precious remains, and 
bequeath it as a sacred legacy to our children. 
But here is the blood of Christ ! Ought it not to 
be dearer, infinitely dearer? 



MEDITATION XXVIII. 

THE EIGHTY-EIGHTH SACRAMENT, AUGUST 7, 1737. 

The supreme happiness of the Christian constituted by the 
converse and favour of the Deity. 

I introduced the ordinance with some scattered 
thoughts on those words, " Ye shall leave me 
alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Fa- 
ther is with me." John xvi. 32. I began with 
observing the uncertainty of human friendship. 
The disciples of Christ, although under so many 
engagements to defend him, dispersed. They left 
^him alone. So may we fall. I then observed the 
support of Christ — " The Father is with me." 
Here was great faith : to believe the Father inva- 
riably present, and to rejoice in him, as sufficient, 
although deserted by human friends. So let us 
fix our hope in God, and place our happiness in a 
converse with him. May he ever be with us, espe- 
9* ■ 



98 TWENTY-NINTH MEDITATION. 

cially in solitude; then we shall never be less for- 
saken than when we are alone. 

Among some other meditations in breaking the 
bread, this was one: — If a prince were not only 
to send a pardon to a traitor, but to take him to 
his table; and not only so, but to admit him into 
his family, and to add, " I will make thee my 
child," it would be amazing, it would be almost 
incredible; yet this does the Lord! Let it melt 
our hearts. How little does it signify what we 
lose, if we retain God, and his favour. 

It was no small affliction to me to resign the 
society of that dear and amiable friend, (Miss 
Wilkinson,) who for now almost fourteen months 
has been the ornament and delight of my family, 
and in every circumstance during that time has 
behaved with a tenderness of friendship almost 
unparalleled, as well as with a strict and constant 
piety, from which the most confirmed Christian 
might have learned some useful lessons ; but I 
have this day been enabled to resign her to God, 
owning his goodness in having enjoyed her con- 
verse here so long, and referring it to him whether 
our next meeting shall be at Northampton, in 
Yorkshire, or in heaven. 



MEDITATION XXIX. 

THE NINETIETH SACRAMENT, OCTOBER 2, 1737. 

Personal remarks on some mournful and mysterious pro- 
vidences: — the Christian armed by faith to suffer all 
things. 

DEAR MISS BLISS DYING, 

The wise and gracious, though mysterious, provi- 
dence of God, has so ordered it in many instances, 



TWENTY-NINTH MEDITATION. 99 

that some of the greatest trials of my life have 
preceded a sacrament day: the death of Mr. 
Saunders; of Lady Russell; of my dear Betsey, 
and the yet dearer Mr. Some ; and now, behold, 
a fifth blow this day falls upon me. The flatter- 
ing hope I had conceived of the recovery of my 
dear friend and companion, I may say, of my 
sister, Miss Bliss — for no sister could be fonder 
of, or dearer to a brother — is taken away, and 
this sorrowful day, October 2, at the distance of a 
year, has shown me two of the saddest sights my 
eyes ever beheld — the burial of my dear child, 
and the life's blood of my dear friend, in whose 
kind arms she departed. My. heart has this day 
been almost torn in pieces with sorrow; yet, bless- 
ed be God, not a hopeless, not a repining sorrow; 
but one so softened and so sweetened, that, with 
all its distress, T number this among the best days 
of my life; if that be good, which teaches us faith 
and love, and which cherishes the sentiments of 
benevolence and of piety. I desire very thank- 
fully to acknowledge, that days of the sharpest 
trial have often been, to me, days of singular com- 
fort. 

This day, at the table of the Lord, I insisted a 
little on those words, " Can we drink of the cup, 
and refuse the cross?" putting it to my fellow 
Christians thus: you come to arm yourselves here; 
but boast not: can you bear losses? can you bear 
to be separated from your friends? can you leave 
life, even though in a violent manner? We would 
not immediately say, Lord, we are able, but, Thy 
will be done. We can do all things through 
Christ that strengthens us. Lead whither thou 
wilt, only let thine arm support us, and make our 
trials subservient to our eternal advantage. 



100 TWENTY-NINTH MEDITATION. 

I afterwards dropped some hints from those 
words; "If a man," whoever he be, "love me, 
he will keep my words." John xiv. 23. Lord, 
we desire to do so; speak, for thy servant hears. 
We come hither with a desire, not only to know, 
but to fulfil thy commands. " My Father will 
love him." O! to love God, and to be beloved by 
him, how desirable! "And we will come." Wel- 
come, blessed Jesus! come into our very souls. 
" Come unto him, and make our" stated and con- 
stant "abode with him;" not being as a way- 
faring man that turns in for a night. Lord, if thou 
wilt dwell with us, it signifies little with whom we 
dwell; thy friendship, thy love, can make up the 
want of human friendship in its sweetest endear- 
ments. 

In pouring out the cup, reflecting on what I had 
seen, I observed, that Christ died a bloody death, 
to impress our hearts ; because we are apt to be im- 
pressed with the sight of a friend's blood, if he be 
wounded. How did the remembrance of that sad 
scene which the morning presented then cut me 
even to the heart! Why should not the blood of a 
Saviour impress me more? But such is the differ- 
ence between sense and faith. I hope the remem- 
brance of what I have seen and felt this day will 
long abide by me. My heart was, and is, full 
of Divine consolation; and the supporting views 
of my dear, I fear, dying, friend, with whom I 
have prayed three times this day, have comforted, 
rather than dejected me. May the glory be his 
from whom the grace comes; who has wrought 
these good things in her, and sealed both of us 
with his grace, as those who are to be companions 
in eternal glory. A thought which has now a 
relish which nothing can exceed, which "nothing 
can equal. 



( ioi ) 



MEDITATION XXX. 

THE HUNDRED AND FOURTH SACRAMENT, OCTOBER 1, 1738. 

Of perfect devotedness to the service of God. 

1 see it, with some surprise, that I have not writ- 
ten any memoirs of what has passed at the Lord's 
table since this time twelvemonth. It is impos- 
sible in a little space to recount what singular 
scenes of providence I have passed through since 
that time; but God has caused me in all to sing 
of mercy rather than of judgment; and I record 
it with all thankfulness. 

This day I had been preaching, and, I bless 
God, with great enlargement, from these words, 
"Although my house be not so with God," &c. 

2 Samuel xxiii. 5. The subject of my meditations 
at the table was, " Gather my saints together unto 
me," &c. Psalm 1. 5. I observed, that God's people 
were saints; they were those who made a cove- 
nant with him by sacrifice. It was our purpose 
in that covenant to devote ourselves to his service, 
to submit ourselves to his disposal; we are now 
gathered together to do it. There is another gather- 
ing together, yet more important, at the great day; 
and we hope yet another, in his heavenly pres- 
ence. It is pleasant now to assemble; how much 
more so will it then be! It is disagreeable to part 
with a dear friend; and how comfortable to think 
that there we shall never part ! 

In breaking the bread, I observed — This is 
bread from heaven ! How should we have been 



102 THIRTY-FIRST MEDITATION. 

touched, if, being lost in a desert, God had sent 
down bread from heaven of the coarsest sort; and 
here is angels' food! Who are the creatures for 
whom this is done? Is it for us? for such poor 
sinners as we are? 

I remember not particularly what passed in 
distributing the wine, only an exhortation to the 
spectators: — Are you all strangers? Are you all 
enemies? 

In making the collection, I said, How much 
better to live on alms, than not to have a heart to 
give ! 

God was with me this day by the most evident 
tokens of his presence. 



MEDITATION XXXI. 

THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH SACRAMENT, JANUARY 7, 1739. 

The peace of God, one of the greatest blessings enjoyed by 
the believer, with considerations on " the blood of sprink- 
ling: 1 

There have not been many public days of my 
life which have been more varied and mingled 
than this. I began it seriously; and, indeed, con- 
sidering the extraordinary time that I spent in the 
devotions of the fast day and yesterday, as well 
as that it was the first Sabbath in the year, and 
that I had a very experimental and useful subject 
assigned me by my good friend, Mr. Browne, that 
is, Psalm xxvii. 14, I expected something consid- 
erable; and, perhaps, that was one reason why I 
succeeded no better. Another was, that I permit- 
ted myself to write some letters in the morning 



THIRTY-FIRST MEDITATION. 103 

which, though in the main serious, were not neces- 
sary, and thereby contracted the time of prepara- 
tion, in too great a presumption on some late en- 
largements. The consequence on the whole was, 
that my spirits were very much straitened, and I 
preached to my own apprehension, very ill, al- 
though it pleased God to render it, in the main, 
acceptable and useful to several persons who heard 
me. 

The subject of my meditations at the table of 
the Lord was, " The Lord will give strength unto 
his people; the Lord will bless his people with 
peace." Psalm xxix. 11. His people have pecu- 
liar reason to expect strength. I hope that we find 
it given. Here is an additional promise Worthy 
our contemplation : " The Lord will bless his 
people with peace ;" that is, peace in life, — calm- 
ness and serenity in their own consciences, as. re- 
conciled to themselves, when they can look in- 
ward, and see a pardoned, sanctified, and quick- 
ened spirit. Peace with God, and a sense of peace. 
Whereas he might long ago have said, a What 
hast thou to do with peace?" — And peace at death! 
Many of our dear friends (I particularly referred 
to Miss Bliss and Mrs. Wingate) had in a remark- 
able manner a sweet and calm serenity, in that 
awful hour which might throw nature into so 
much commotion and distress. And peace to all 
eternity; so that we should then enter into peace: 
no more war, no more alarm, no more sorrow. 
Christ is our peace; in him we have it, and that 
even while we have tribulation in the world. 

In breaking the bread, I said, " In this was 
manifested the love of God." 1 John iv. 9. This 
is the most glorious display of it. Let the pa- 
gan, let the Mohammedan say, what has, on their 



104 THIRTY-FIRST MEDITATION. 

principles, been done for them comparable to this. 
Let the Jew boast that he calls Abraham, father; 
that God delivered his fathers from Egypt, settled 
them in Canaan, wrought them out wonderful de- 
liverances there, sent them Moses and the pro- 
phets, and gave them his laws: nay, but he gives 
his Son to live, to die for us! He raised him to 
his own right hand, and has seated him in glory, 
and made him Head over all things. 

Then, in pouring out the cup, I mentioned that 
text, " Ye are come — to the blood of sprinkling." 
Heb. xii. 22, 24. Do we not come to it? Do 
not our souls apply to it, and desire to be washed 
in it? It " speaketh better things" than "the 
blood of Abel." And in consequence of it, we are 
come to " the general assembly and church of the 
first-born." ' It is delightful to think, that we are 
come to a church on earth ; to look round on such 
an assembly. O how much more important to 
look on an innumerable company of angels! To 
have seen one would have been a pleasant thing; 
but so to converse with them without any danger 
of idolatry; yea, to be numbered among their 
society, made equal to angels, and " the spirits of 
just men made perfect!" It was delightful to con- 
verse with many saints now in glory, in the midst 
of all their imperfections and sorrows; but now 
that they are complete in holiness and glory, what 
admiration and joy would it give ! We may now 
think with pleasure of coming even to God as a 
Judge; because his righteousness and justice are 
engaged to accept us through Christ. 

Just before I took the cup I said, Thanks be to 
God, who already causeth us to triumph in Christ, 
and turns the greatest terrors into comfort; wit- 
ness those three most dreadful words to an impeni- 



THIRTY-SECOND MEDITATION. 105 

tent sinner, death — judgment — eternity. O! now 
what a source of pleasure ! Death — to get rid of 
sin and sorrow, to fall asleep in the arms of 
Christ. Judgment — to appear, to be rewarded 
and applauded. Eternity — to dwell for ever with 
God, and Christ; and with holy angels, and saints. 
O blessed words! Death — judgment — eternity! 
They are so, because the savour of Christ has been 
spread abroad upon our hearts. 



MEDITATION XXXII. 

THE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH SACRAMENT, FEBRUARY 4, 1739. 

Of the majestic character of the Messiah in his offices. 

The leading subject of our meditation was that 
text in Micah, (having been preaching on God's 
promise of giving to his sheep eternal life,) " He 
shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, 
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; 
and they shall abide: for now shall he be great 
unto the ends of the earth." Micah v. 4. In which 
words I observed — 1. A view of the diligence and 
piety of the Redeemer; "He shall stand and feed :" 
intimating, that he shall be a watchful Shepherd, 
and take care of his flock ; and he shall do so " in 
the strength of the Lord," and "in the majesty of 
the name of his God ;" implying a dependence on 
Divine assistance. This Christ showed in all his 
ministrations. " I honour my Father; — I seek not 
my own glory, but his that sent me; — The works 
which my father has given me to do; — This com- 
mand received I from my Father " &c. — 2. The 
10 



106 THIRTY-SECOND MEDITATION. 

glorious display of the Divine power in him: " He 
shall stand in the majesty of the name of his 
God." Christ's works were very majestic; much 
of God appeared in them. Were a man to cure 
only one blind or lame person, to raise up only 
one dead body to life, what a glory would it re- 
flect upon him! The miracles of Christ, for num- 
ber, for excellence, were unparalleled. — 3. The 
perpetuity of his interest: "They shall abide;" 
that is, in Christ, and as his flock in all ages. 
Accordingly, it is so. In vain the terrors, in vain 
the learning and wit, of the world are armed 
against him : and it is observable, that most of the 
writers against Christianity have been left to dis- 
honour themselves by vile immoralities. — 4. The 
extent of it : He is " great unto the ends of the 
earth." Accordingly, we see it. We live in a 
country then almost unheard of, yet He is great 
among us. Perhaps idolatrous worship was paid 
on the very spot of ground on which we now are ; 
yet we honour him; and we are gathered as into 
his fold. He makes us to lie down in green pas- 
tures. Blessed be his name, that we are not in 
dry and withered pastures, under dead ordinances. 
We lie down by the still waters, and are not trou- 
bled by persecutors; we are not obliged as our 
fathers were, to disguise our sacred table with 
common meat, that, in case of a sudden surprise, 
it might not be known. 

In breaking the bread, I observed, Lord, we are 
unworthy of a thought, of a word, a tear of thine, 
much more of a drop of thy blood ; yet all is 
given for us! Let us, then, be deeply humbled 
before thee. 

On drinking of the wine, I said, Christ our 
Forerunner has entered within the veil. Joyful 



THIRTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 107 

news, if on his own account : hut not only on that 
— he has entered for us ; has entered as our Fore- 
runner, intimating our quickly entering also; there- 
fore shall we be raised up, and made to sit together 
in heavenly places. I congratulate you on this. 
Look up to Christ as your Head, and enlarge 
your desires for the propagation of his kingdom. 
Would you not, then, receive the cup which is the 
communion of the blood of Christ? Have you 
not need of it? Would you not thankfully sub- 
mit yourselves to it, and to that way of saving 
grace in the gospel? 



MEDITATION XXXIII. 

THE HUNDRED AND NINTH SACRAMENT, MARCH 4, 1739. 

The blessed may triumph in the thoughts of Heaven. 

I introduced the ordinance with a meditation on 
those words in the Revelation, chap. vii. verse 9 
and 10: "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great 
multitude, which no man could number, of all 
nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, 
stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, 
clothed with white robes, and palms in their 
hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Sal- 
vation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, 
and unto the Lamb." Let us observe, who this 
blessed company were, how they were situated, 
and how they were employed. 

First — They were a vast multitude. Although 
the fold of Christ on earth is little, and the gate 
strait, yet in heaven it is great, because it takes in 



108 THIRTY- THIRD MEDITATION. 

infants. How many little creatures, having for a 
little while borne the image of the earthly Adam, 
bear that of the heavenly! And in the latter days 
many shall be brought in ; the way shall be wider, 
and many shall say, " Come, let us walk in it." 
It is a various society, not confined to the Jews, 
but of all nations and kingdoms; our own, through 
grace, is eminently distinguished. Let us acknow- 
ledge the goodness of God therein; and that, in 
our language, a multitude of holy souls, being 
dead, yet speak. 

Secondly — In what a situation: clothed in 
bright robes' of purity, of victory, and of joy; 
with palms in their hands, as conquerors over sin, 
Satan, the world, and death. How joyful that 
triumph, and how completely secured by salvation 
appointed as its walls and bulwarks ! 

Thirdly — How they are employed : in humble 
worship, ascribing salvation (not in wishing it) to 
Him that sitteth upon the throne, to their God. 
They consider him as on the throne; they see 
how lofty, how radiant, how firm ; and this God is 
our God. The bands of nature are often bro- 
ken, but those that ally Him to us shall never 
be broken. They also ascribe salvation to the 
Lamb, remembering their obligation to suffering 
love. ' How doth humility mingle itself with all 
the honours and joys of the heavenly world; — the 
Lamb feeds them, and takes them to the fountains 
of living water. 

In breaking the bread, my meditations turned 
on the Lamb of God. How wonderful that His 
Son should ever be so represented ! And when 
this Lamb suffered, it was to take away the sin of 
the world — to take away our sin. 

In pouring out the cup, I alluded to the Jewish 



THIRTY-FOURTH MEDITATION. 109 

benediction, " Blessed be God, who hath created 
the fruit of the vine." What a vine is ours! how 
refreshing its shade, how sweet its fruit, how 
strong its root! No wind shall blast, no worm 
corrode it ; we shall sit under its shadow for ever. 
I met with very much of God this day, and my 
soul has been greatly established. 



MEDITATION XXXIV. 

THE HUNDRED AND THIRTEENTH SACRAMENT, JUNE 3, 1739. 

The pardon of sin renders trials light in the estimation of 
a Christian. 

Just as I went in to the ordinance, those words 
accidentally, or rather providentially, occurred to 
me: " Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; 
be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter 
of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy 
judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the 
King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of 
thee: thou shalt not see evil any more." Zeph. iii. 
] 4, 15. I observed the exhortation and the ground 
of it: the exhortation to joy, and that of an ex- 
traordinary nature, " To sing, to shout, to be glad 
with all the heart." Our joys in this world are 
allayed, there is a great mixture of sorrow in them 
all, and a speedy end of all the things that we 
rejoice in. There is little reason to be glad with 
all the heart here, and rather, a prudent reserve 
should be maintained. But it is not so now; here- 
in we may dilate our souls ; we may sweetly open 
our hearts wide to joy, if we have this foundation 
for it. Addressing the believers, it is said, " He 
10* 



110 THIRTY-FOURTH MEDITATION. 

hath taken away thy judgments." Not thine af- 
flictions, they continue; but the sting is taken out, 
because the sentence of destruction is reversed; 
and then, if there is no condemnation, how light 
other things may sit! O Lord, correct me, but 
not in thine anger. " He hath cast out thine 
enemy." I know not, and I am not very solicit- 
ous to know, to what enemy this immediately re- 
fers; the great enemy is expelled, Satan, falling 
like lightning from heaven; the accuser of the 
brethren is cast out. " The King of Israel, even 
the Lord, is in the midst of thee." God is be- 
come our King. O pleasant thought ! " The 
Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice!" He is still 
in the midst of thee; he dwells with thee, thy 
Sovereign evermore. It was a great privilege to 
dwell in Zion, where God visibly resided. His 
special presence is -of far greater importance: 
separate that, and the oloud had been but a vapour, 
"Thou shalt not see evil any more;" not unmin- 
gled evil, not such *as thou hast formerly seen — 
no more return to that condemnation, to that cap- 
tivity: and thou shalt ere long be raised above the 
sight of all evil, whether of sin or of punishment. 
Look around, and see what evil pains thy heart, 
and wounds thy eyes; it shall then be entirely 
and for ever done away. Let us encourage our- 
selves in the Lord our God to believe this, review- 
ing the promises again and again, with greater 
confidence and joy. 

In breaking the bread, I remarked, The cove- 
nant, how sure! If you had promised me any 
thing, I should think it safe: can Christ forget to 
remember? can he want power and faithfulness? 

I addressed myself to God before taking the 
cup, as in self-dedication, and then spoke to the 



THIRTY-FIFTH MEDITATION. Ill 

spectators: Is there not one of you that loves 
Christ? — is there not one who desires him? not 
one who would devote himself to him? Yes, sure- 
ly there are many. Come, then, and welcome. 



MEDITATION XXXV. 

THE HUNDRED AND SIXTEENTH SACRAMENT, OCTOBER 7, 1739. 

Holy and delightful anticipations under the assurance of 
being enabled to serve the cause of God in the world 
during life, and by his writings' after death, 

God has been pleased to meet my soul this day 
in ordinances in an uncommon degree. As I was 
going to the house of God I passed by my dear 
children. Polly and Mercy, Phil, and Celia, and 
was lifting up my heart to God for them, that they 
might every one of them be- the support and orna- 
ment of religion, when, I know not how, there 
darted into my mind, with a peculiar energy, as 
if spoken to me, those words which I knew were 
originally spoken to my great Lord, in comparison 
of whom I am but as dust and ashes, " He shall 
see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the 
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." 
Isaiah liii. 10. What these words peculiarly intend 
I know not, neither would I absolutely conclude 
from them that I shall live many years; or see 
my children planted in the church: but of this, 
through grace, I am well persuaded; that I shall 
see my spiritual seed; that I shall prolong eternal 
days of joy and glory in heaven ; and that God 
will make the good pleasure of his grace, in the 



112 THIRTY-FIFTH MEDITATION. 

conversion and establishment of his chosen people, 
prosperous in my hand, both while I live, and 
when I am dead, by what I shall leave behind me, 
written, I hope, in the spirit of the gospel; written, 
I am sure, with an undissembled zeal for his hon- 
our and interest, which he that searches my heart, 
and sees all its secret workings, assuredly knows. 
I preached on these words; "I will not leave 
you comfortless : I will come to you :" John xiv. 
18; and I introduced the ordinance with the fol- 
lowing words : " Yet a little while, and the world 
seeth me no more ; but ye see me : because I live, 
ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that 
I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." 
John xiv. 19, 20. I observed that the true Chris- 
tian sees Christ when invisible to the world. The 
sight of him for a small part of forty days was 
comparatively but little; the words rather refer to 
the vision of his grace in heaven. Many of us 
know what they mean; looking through his word, 
through his providence; we know what it is, 
through his ordinances, to see Christ; — we rejoice 
in the sight already given, and we are breathing 
after that yet to be bestowed. " Because I live, ye 
shall live also." This sight of Christ, as a living 
Redeemer, gives us a derived life from him sure 
as his own! While he lives, while he has grace 
and glory at his disposal, no true believer shall fail 
of either. O, blessed hope! when it enters the 
soul, how does it raise our thoughts of Christ! 
When we feel Divine vigour communicated from 
him, then do we know that he is in the Father : 
then do we possess his participation of Divine 
honours, and know that as he is in us by the 
power of his grace, so we are also in him ; — our 
names are written upon his heart, and we are in- 



THIRTY-FIFTH MEDITATION. 113 

terested in him, as our covenant Head, and as our 
sure Redeemer, 

Many comfortable, although plain thoughts arose 
in breaking the bread and in pouring forth the 
wine, especially those of triumph in the text above 
mentioned, Christ " shall see his seed." I hope 
this applies to us among the rest, and that with us 
his days shall be prolonged to eternal ages, and 
his cause go on successfully. O that what I have 
this day been saying and doing in the house of 
God may confirm this ! I have devoted myself to 
God in the bonds of his covenant. May I ever 
retain it upon the imagination of the thoughts of 
my heart. 

I mentioned at the collection, the case of the 
heathen emperor, that is, of Titus, who accounted 
the day lost in which he had done no good ! May 
I never more see that lost day! but either in spi- 
rituals or in temporals, or rather, if it be the good 
will of my God, in both, may I be doing good 
every day. 

This was the birth day of my dear eldest daugh- 
ter Betsey, whose name continues written, perhaps 
too deeply, on my heart. But blessed be God that 
gave her, and that hath taken her away. I adore 
his love, as well as his justice, in the loss I so 
much lamented; and I rejoice in the cheerful hope 
that I have of meeting her in a world of eternal 
glory. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 



( 114 ) 



MEDITATION XXXVI. 

IN WHICH MY SOUL WAS BREATHING AFTER GOD. 
NOVEMBER 2, 1739. 

Solemn aspirations of praise and gratitude for the Divine 
protection and favour in individual particulars, 

O my God! thou art my hope, and my help; my 
glory, and the lifter up of my head; — my heart 
rejoices in thy salvation. When I set myself to 
converse with thee under the influence of thine 
Holy Spirit, a thousand delightful thoughts spring 
up at once; a thousand sources of pleasure are 
unsealed, and flow in upon my soul with such re- 
freshment and joy, that they seem to crowd into 
every moment the happiness of hours, of days, 
and of weeks. 

I praise thee, O Lord, for this soul of mine, 
which thou hast created, and which thou hast 
taught to say, and I hope to purpose, " Where is 
God my Maker?" Job xxxv. 10. I bless thee for 
the knowledge with which thou hast adorned it. I 
bless thee for that grace with which I may, with 
humble wonder, say thou hast sanctified it, al- 
though, alas! the celestial plant be fixed in too 
barren a soil, and does not flourish to the degree 
that I could wish. I praise thee, my God, for that 
body which thou hast given me, and which thou 
preservest as yet in its strength and vigour, capa- 
ble not merely of relishing those entertainments 
which thou grantest to each of its senses, but, what 
is, I hope, to me far more valuable, capable of 
acting with some vigour in thy service. I bless 



THIRTY-SIXTH MEDITATION. 115 

thee for the ease and freedom with which these 
limbs of mine move themselves, and obey the dic- 
tates of my spirit, I hope, as guided by thine. I 
bless thee, that the keepers of the house do not yet 
tremble, nor the strong men bow themselves; that 
those who look out at the windows are not dark- 
ened, nor the daughters of music, or the instru- 
ments of speech, brought low. I bless thee, O 
Lord, my God, that the silver cords are not loos- 
ened, nor the golden bowl broken ; for it is thine 
hand that braces all my nerves, and thine infinite 
skill which prepareth those spirits that flow in so 
freely, and, when exhausted, are recruited so soon, 
and so plentifully. I praise thee, for that munifi- 
cence with which thou providest for my daily sup- 
port; for that various table which thou spreadest 
before me, and for the overflowing cup which thou 
puttest into my hands. And I praise thee, that 
these bounties of thy providence do not serve, as 
it were, to upbraid a disabled appetite, and are not 
like messes of meat set before the dead. That no 
relaxation of the nerves weakens my strength, so 
as to render it incapable of digesting my food, nor 
cankers torture my mouth, so as to render it inca- 
pable of receiving it. I bless thee, that I eat not 
my morsel alone, but share it with so many agree- 
able friends; that my affectionate wife, and my 
lovely children, and my hopeful and grateful pu- 
pils, are with me like olive plants set around my 
table. And I thank thee for so many friends who 
are capable of serving me, and so many whom I 
am capable of serving; and by conversing with 
whom, through the liberality of the former, I 
know how much more blessed it is to give than 
to receive. I thank thee for a heart that can feel 
the sorrows of the necessitous, and a mind that 



116 THIRTY-SIXTH MEDITATION. 

can, as in this day, make it my earliest care and 
morning refreshment to contrive for their relief. 
For this also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts. 
Thou awakenest my spirit to seek the way; thou 
graciously pointest it out, and I humbly hope that 
thou wilt crown it with success. 

And now, O my God, what shall I say? what, 
but that I love thee above all in the power of lan- 
guage to express. While I feel thy sacred Spirit 
breathing upon my heart, and exciting these fer- 
vours of love to thee, I cannot doubt of its influ- 
ence, any more than I can doubt of the truth of 
this animal life while I exert the acts of it. Sure- 
ly, if ever I knew the appetite of hunger, — my 
soul hungers after righteousness, and longs for a 
greater conformity to thy blessed nature and will. 
If ever my palate felt thirst, — my soul thirsts for 
God, even the living God ! and for a more abund- 
ant communication of his favour. If ever my 
weary body knew what it was to wish for the re- 
freshment of my bed, and longed for rest, — even 
so my soul, with sweet acquiescence, rests upon 
thy gracious bosom, O my heavenly Father, and 
returns to its repose in the embraces of its God, 
who has dealt so bountifully with it. And if ever 
I saw the face of a beloved friend or child with 
complacency and joy, — so I rejoice in beholding 
thy mercy, O Lord, and in calling thee my Father 
in Christ. Such thou art, and such thou wilt be 
for time, and for eternity. What have I more to 
do but to commit myself to thee for both, and 
leave thee to choose my inheritance, and order 
my affairs for me, while all my business is to 
serve thee, and all my delight to praise thee. My 
soul follows hard after my God, because his right 



THIRTY-SEVENTH MEDITATION. 117 

hand supports me. Let it still bear me up, and I 
shall still press forward. Amen. 



MEDITATION XXXVII. 

HUNDRED AND TWENTIETH SACRAMENT DECEMBER 2, 1739. 

Of Christ as being the brightness of his Father's glory. 

Never have I been so frequently at the table of 
the Lord within so short a period. I have now 
been four times there within five Sabbaths; having 
administered the ordinance at Newport and Wel- 
ford, since the last time at Northampton; and I 
bless God, at both places with some pleasure, and 
I hope with some improvement. 

This day I heard, with unutterable pleasure, 
dear Mr. Orton preach one -of the best sermons 
that ever was preached of the service of Christ. 
Blessed be God, who has given him such gifts and 
graces. My sermon was a very poor thing in 
comparison to it. But I speak in the sincerity of 
my heart, and in the sincerity of my heart have I 
praised the God of all grace, that the disciple was 
so much above his master. May the gifts and 
graces of the Holy Spirit be multiplied ten thou- 
sandfold upon him, and may thousands yet unborn 
have reason to call him blessed! 

I introduced the ordinance with some medita- 
tions on these words: " Who being the brightness 
of his Father's glory, and the express image of his 

person, when he had by himself purged our 

sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on 
high." Heb. i. 3. I had been preaching of Christ 
11 



118 THIRTY-SEVENTH MEDITATION. 

giving himself for us, to redeem us from all ini- 
quity, and to sanctify to himself a peculiar people, 
zealous of good works. And this seemed well 
connected with that text. It gives us a view of 
the grandeur of Christ's person ; and of the happy 
success of his undertaking. The grandeur of his 
person: — he was the brightness of the Father's 
glory, and the express image of his person; that 
is, the Being who of all others bore most of the 
image of God. Much, indeed, is reflected from 
good men here, and much more from glorified 
spirits above, and more especially from the angels. 
But, O, ail these stars disappear in the presence 
of the Sun of righteousness! He is the very ef- 
fulgence of his Father's glory, and as if none but 
lie bore his image. And he, having created all 
things, does, also, by the word of his power uphold 
them. He spake, and we existed. To what pur- 
pose is he mentioned? Even to this, that he by 
himself has purified us from our sins. He did 
not assign the office to any other; he did not con- 
sign it over to any meaner person ; he did not say to 
the brightest cherub, "Go, and become incarnate, 
and submit to death for the redemption of sinful 
man. Go, and give thy back to the smiters; 
stretch out thine arms on the cross." No; he did 
not substitute another, but he endured it himself, to 
purge us from evil, and to expiate our sins. And 
the consummation is, that he has sat down at the 
right hand of God, which speaks the Father's ac- 
ceptance of the atonement which he has made; else 
he would never have released him from the tomb, 
— much less would he have set him down at his 
own right hand. And it also proclaims his hon- 
our and glory. The Majesty on high has received 
him there. His human nature is instated in a 



THIRTY-EIGHTH MEDITATION. 119 

place of supreme dignity and glory, of supreme 
joy and happiness. And thither is he gone as our 
Forerunner. Where he is, there we shall be also; 
that is, at the right hand of God ! And there is 
fulness of joy, and there are pleasures for ever- 
more. 



MEDITATION XXXVIII. 

HINTS OF SOME MEDITATIONS ON THE HUNDRED AND TWENTY- 
FIRST SACRAMENT, JANUARY 7, 1740. 

The character and happiness of the true Christian. 

This was the very day that my dear friend, Mr. 
Palk, died, which was indeed a very sorrowful ex- 
ercise to me, and my fears of that approaching 
calamity were painful; yet I bless God, that I had 
some comfortable impressions at his table from 
those words, " The meek shall eat and be satisfied : 
they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your 
heart shall live for ever." Psalm xxii. 26. I ob- 
served, that this scripture united in one express 
view the character and happiness of the true Chris- 
tian. The character: — they are those who are 
meek on the earth, and who seek the Lord. They 
are meek under provocation ; and this not through 
a meanness of soul, but through a true greatness. 
They do not think so highly of provocations as 
many do. They give up self-interest; and they 
see so much to pity in the offender, that they are 
ready to forgive the offence; and that even where 
the injury is greatest. And the view of their great 
Master promotes this. They remember, how he 



120 THIRTY-EIGHTH MEDITATION, 

was " brought as a lamb to the slaughter." They 
think of his dying words, " Father forgive them ; 
for they know not what they do!" Luke xxiii. 34. 
And they carry this meekness so far as not only 
to pardon, but to love, and to pray for their enemy. 
Think, Christians, are there any that have in- 
jured and offended you? May the Lord forgive 
them: may the Lord bless them with spiritual 
blessings. " What do I wish more, than for the 
conversion, reformation, and salvation of my great- 
est enemy : and that not for the satisfaction of see- 
ing him humbled before me. Lord, if I were sure 
he would forget that he had ever injured me I 
should rejoice in the thought." Considering meek- 
ness in general as humility, it is the Christian's 
character; he quiets himself before God, and his 
soul is as a weaned child, that, if it cannot have the 
breast, soon grows quiet without it, and reconciles 
itself to such food as it may have. A deep sense 
of meanness and of guilt before God humbles the 
soul. And when is it more humbled than at this 
ordinance, when it sees itself at table with the 
King of heaven, and looks forward to its complete 
felicity? Delightful, yet abasing thought! and de- 
lightful because abasing. " Who am I, O Lord, 
and what is my service, that thou hast brought 
me hither?" They seek God, through Christ: — 
they seek God; they see how desirable his favour 
is, and they long for it above all things ; they have 
a certain nobleness and generosity of soul which 
engages them to long, to pray, to cry for the Di- 
vine presence, which they expect through Christ. 
They see grace dwelling in him, dwelling with 
men for his sake; they therefore seek an interest 
in Christ with the greatest ardour — with none but 
Christ; and they are seeking him continually, 



THIRTY-EIGHTH MEDITATION. 121 

well knowing what the presence of Christ means. 
Then consider his blessing; "They shall eat, 
and be satisfied" with the provision of their own 
table, and their own loaf: their table is blessed; 
wherever it be, how mean soever their lot, they 
have what God has sent; they are in the condition 
which he has chosen, which is always vastly bet- 
ter than what we have deserved: it is his great 
goodness, they say, to choose thus; and to choose 
nothing for the present greater. " Prosperity 
might have destroyed me. O, sweet to think, that 
all comes from the hand of my God." In this 
sense, the little that a righteous man hath, is better 
than the abundance of the wicked ; yea, sweet is 
a dinner of herbs with His love. The Christian 
is satisfied still more with the provisions of God's 
table. Royal fare! and yet what to an eye of 
sense? who has not every day better? — a morsel 
of bread, a little sup of wine; who would purchase 
them by the time spent here? But thy loving- 
kindness, Lord, is infinitely better than food. To 
feed by faith upon Christ; O how tasteful is this 
heavenly manna! O how reviving in this sense is 
his blood ! This is meat indeed, and this is drink 
indeed." How often are the Christian's hopes so 
enlightened, and his soul so nourished, that he 
rises in the strength of its expectation, and goes 
many days' journey to the house of his God. 

" They shall praise the Lord ;" and how pleas- 
ant is that, when the heart overflows with love! 
it even revives our animal nature, and is, as it 
were, an anticipation of heaven. " Your heart 
shall live for ever." Short words, but O how 
comprehensive! — when the soul bears forward in 
its ideas, and launches into the ocean of eternity; 
when it presses forward through the immensity of 
11* 



122 THIRTY-NINTH MEDITATION. 

space; when it measures its duration no more by- 
days, by years, by centuries, by ages, or by mil- 
lions of ages, but finds itself encircled in the omni- 
presence of the eternal God. When I fall into 
such contemplations as these, when I see these 
opening scenes, I think I am still with thee; that 
thou art still my God, that still I shall praise 
thee: — then, ever living, my heart shall beat high 
with everlasting joy, and, its motion never ceas- 
ing, its pulse shall never tremble nor grow faint, 
but spring on with everlasting vigour. Delightful 
thought! Let this heart that thus shall live for 
ever now ascend in a flame of holy love to its 
God and Father, and pour itself out in lively pray- 
ers to him. 



MEDITATION XXXIX. 

BRIEF RECOLLECTIONS OF WHAT PASSED AT THE LORD'S 
TABLE, OCTOBER, 1741. 

Christ's spiritual presence with his Church. 

This day was lamentably remarkable to me on 
one account, though most pleasantly so on another. 
This day was the last Sabbath that I spent with 
my dear and delightful friend, Mr. Orton, who 
preached in the morning from those words, M I will 
never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Heb. xiii. 5. 
I, in harmony with him, discoursed at the table 
from these, " Lo, I am with you alvvay, even unto 
the end of the world. Amen." Matt, xxviii. 20. 
I considered in what circumstances the words were 
spoken, and what they contain. They were spoken 
by Christ, when he was leaving the disciples, and 



THIRTY-NINTH MEDITATION. 123 

they were grieved that his bodily presence, which 
no doubt was very delightful, was to be with them 
no more. They were spoken when he was but 
recently and triumphantly risen from the grave, 
and was going into the presence of his heavenly 
Father. His apostles were going out into the 
world under many difficulties; but he intimates 
that his presence in Spirit should be sufficient; — 
as if he had said, " I will be with you — with me 
you can fear nothing." " Lord, if it be thou," 
says Peter, "bid me come unto thee on the water." 
Matt. xiv. 28. I can tread this stormy sea, if thou 
wilt lead, and if thou wilt support me. " I am 
with you," says our great Leader, " to strengthen 
and succeed you in your work." O what delight 
did it give to the apostles, when he added, " even 
unto the end of the world. Amen." But did he 
mean his apostles alone? Why should he mean 
that? Would not the same principle that engaged 
him to be tender to them, lead him also to a gra- 
cious care of us? Undoubtedly it would. Then 
he speaks even now. Lo! behold it! attend to it; 
reflect upon it with wonder, that Christ, by a Di- 
vine and spiritual presence, will still be with every 
minister, and that for the sake of the church, He 
will show his love to every Christian. Let us be 
bold in this : put our Amen to it, and say, " The 
Lord is my helper, I will not fear labour nor suf- 
fering, nor the loss of my dearest friends; he will 
support me; he will be with me in life; and, after 
my death, he will be with succeeding Christians 
and ministers ; yes, and with me too— with me, in 
a literal sense, to the end of the world : — with me, 
till this scheme of salvation on earth be accom- 
plished ; and at the end of the world he will reani- 
mate me, and receive me to glory, confessing me 



124 FORTIETH MEDITATION. 

before men, and giving me an abundant entrance 
into his heavenly kingdom. O delightful view! O 
blessed hope! Let me, then, be ever with him, 
and do all in my power to exert myself for his 
service; — and let me make myself easy as to the 
support of his church in the world; for whatever 
may rise up against it, lo! he is with us alway, 
and then, greater is he who is with us, than all 
those who are against us. That which can des- 
troy the Head shall destroy the members; but 
while he lives and reigns, he will support them." 



MEDITATION XL. 

RECOLLECTIONS OF WHAT PASSED AT THE LORD'S TABLE, 

* * * 1741. 

Christ anointed by the Father. 

The subject of my meditation was those remark- 
able words of Isaiah, li. 16, which I considered as 
spoken by the Father to Christ : " I have put my 
words in thy mouth. I have hid thee in the hol- 
low of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, 
and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto 
Zion, Thou art my people."* Observe the regard 
God expressed to our Lord, and the purposes for 
which he designed him. The regard expressed to 
him, " I have put my words in thy mouth." God 
gave him plenary inspiration in the highest sense. 

* Dr. Doddridge appears to have varied the reading- here. 
In the common version the verse runs thus : "I have put 
my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the 
shadow of mine hand." 



FORTIETH MEDITATION. 125 

The words he spoke were not his own, but the 
Father's who sent him. He gave not the Spirit 
by measure unto him, but anointed him with the 
oil of gladness above his fellows. He therefore 
brought the most perfect revelation of God to men, 
and opened the most glorious scheme of salvation. 
He indeed brought good tidings, and published 
peace, and said unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! 
And God concealed him in the hollow of his hand : 
that is, he reserved him until the proper time, the 
fulness of time, in which he was to be exhibited; 
and then he protected him in the midst of danger 
by his secret, but ever watchful power, until the 
time came when he was delivered for our offences ; 
watching over him, even when he continued among 
the dead, and at length raising him up for our jus- 
tification. And what were the glorious purposes 
for which all was accomplished? The immediate 
purpose was, to say unto Zion, Thofc art my peo- 
ple; but more remotely, to establish the earth, 
and to plant the heavens. By Him God gathers a 
church in the world. He raises that sacred edifice 
on Mount Sion; chooses to himself a people in 
Christ, and declares to them the happy relation in 
which they stand; gives them the promises, and 
the seals of his covenant; and even by these ordi- 
nances he says, Thou art my people; — admitting 
us into a degree of intimacy and freedom of Di- 
vine communion, unknown under the institutions 
of Moses. The high priest went within the veil 
but once a year; none but the priest within the 
house, and none but the Levites within the courts. 
But now the way to the holiest of all is laid open 
by the blood of Jesus ; and the foundations of the 
earth are laid, or rather, established. God would 
not have maintained this earth to have been only 



126 FORTIETH MEDITATION. 

the habitation of accursed and ruined creatures, 
therefore, that scheme which insured to Him a 
people, established it. All things are done for the 
elect's sake. For them, he is made Head over all; 
and might say, with infinitely greater propriety 
than did David, "All the foundations of the earth 
are out of course; I bear up the pillars of it." 
Psalm lxxxii. 5; lxxv. 3. And it is indeed His ' 
Spirit, which supports all that piety which there is 
in the world, and which has been throughout all 
the past ages of his people. In which respect He 
may possibly say to some, as he did to Cyrus, I 
have girded thee, though thou hast not known me. 
And all this is, that he may plant the heavens; 
that he may conduct thither a colony from the 
earth, and fill those vacant seats which the rebel 
angels left. All this is, that he may raise from 
this nursery here below, planted by his hand, and 
watered by his word, ordinances, and Spirit, young 
plants to set in the heavenly world, where they 
shall for ever flourish near the streams of the 
fountain of life. For ever adored be Divine 
grace, which has thus honoured us, who deserved 
long since to have been rooted out of the earth ; to 
have been cast out of his garden with dishonour 
as noisome weeds ; to have been cut down as cum- 
berers of the ground. Yet with us will he plant 
the heavens! — He will cause us to shine as the 
firmament; and as, I trust, many of us will be 
instrumental in turning many to righteousness, 
and thus shine as the stars for ever and ever. 
Nay, the meanest and weakest Christian may say 
more than that, as the views of the gospel rise on 
those of the prophets; for our Lord tells us, they 
" shall shine forth like the sun, in the kingdom of 
their Father." Matt. xiii. 43. 



FORTIETH MEDITATION. 127 

In breaking the bread, I mentioned the text of 
sitting down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, 
in the kingdom of God. Matt. viii. 11. It would 
have been delightful to have conversed with good 
old Jacob; to have seen him even on his dying 
bed acknowledging that God had fed him all his 
life long to that moment; delightful to have been 
with him at Bethel, when in his prosperity there 
he recognised the Divine faithfulness, and accom- 
plished his vows; — delightful to have known pious 
Isaac, who, as a type of our blessed Redeemer, so 
willingly surrendered himself to God, and his fa- 
ther, and was stretched out with all the meekness 
of a lamb, when appointed to be a burnt offering. 
And who would not have been delighted to have 
had an interview with Abraham, the father of us 
all; that holy man, to whom God has done that 
signal honour, that all believers of every age and 
nation should be looked upon as his seed: that 
holy man, who walked before God, and was per- 
fect, and who is now a guest of distinguished glory 
at the table above, as he had once the honour to 
entertain some of the inhabitants of heaven at his 
hospitable board below. 

To sit down, and not only with these holy patri- 
archs, but with all the apostles of the Lamb; with 
those illustrious soldiers and leaders in the army 
of Christ, to whom the whole Christian world has 
been so much indebted, and to whom we in partic- 
ular have had such great obligations on account 
of those memoirs of Christ, and that history of his 
gospel, which they have given us. And with John, 
who leaned on the Redeemer's bosom. With Paul, 
whose divine epistles we have so often read with 
rapture, and something of whose spirit, I hope, we 
have sometimes caught. It would have been de- 



128 FORTIETH MEDITATION. 

lightful to have met with any one of these apostles 
in their travels, and to have joined with them in 
breaking bread when they administered this ordi- 
nance. But their knowledge of the mysteries of 
the kingdom is now infinitely increased. Then 
they saw as through a glass darkly; then they 
spoke with trembling accents. Now they see 
face to face, and have learned the language of 
heaven. But O — let our souls remember it with 
holy joy, and a fervent, growing desire of that 
blessed interview — we shall there behold not only 
the apostles of the Lamb, but the Lamb him- 
self! Yea, it is said, the Lamb himself " shall 
feed them, and lead them unto living fountains of 
water." Rev. vii. 17. How delightful will the 
relish of this water be, which he shall give us! 
How reviving the wine, which we shall drink with 
him in his kingdom ! It will then be no grievance 
of heart to us, that we have, according to his ap- 
pointment, paid this humble honour to his cross 
upon earth, and have devoted ourselves to him as 
his covenant people in this holy rite of his own 
institution. 

I then addressed myself to the spectators, ex- 
pressing my hope that they had communion with 
us, and in good wishes that they might have more. 
I mentioned my own experience before I sat down 
at the Lord's table, and my cheerful hope that 
God would draw them with a victorious sweetness 
of correction. 






( 129 ) 



MEDITATION XLI. 

SOME ACCOUNT OF WHAT PASSED AT THE SACRAMENT, 
JANUARY 3, 1742. 

Of the peace of God, as enjoyed by the Christian under the 
covenant of the gospel. 

The subject of my meditation at the table of the 
Lord was those words ; " I create the fruit of the 
lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to 
him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal 
him." Isaiah lvii. 19. We are now in a circum- 
stance of praise, which is " the fruit of the lips." 
I observed with what majesty God claims to be 
the Creator of those fruits that were offered to 
him. It may indeed be said, " Of thine own have 
we given thee." It is a new creation of his own. 
He has given the matter and the heart for it ; espe- 
cially in these instances. The Lord Jesus Christ 
has redeemed his church with his blood; this was 
the gift of the Divine bounty ; redemption by him 
was the contrivance of the Divine grace, and so is 
a disposition of soul to accept of this salvation, and 
to pray to God for it. Why are we not like the 
mad herd who call themselves the wise men of this 
world, despising this gracious Redeemer? or why 
are we rejoicing in his salvation, and not mourn- 
ing and lamenting, and fetching our arguments of 
sorrow and distress from the very message that 
Christ has brought? It is God that has created 
this fruit of praise. He has caused the wilder- 
ness to bloom with this plant of paradise; and all 
the solemn desert-, where no sound but doleful 
12 €i # . " 



130 FORTY-FIRST MEDITATION. 

notes of sorrow and despair might have heen 
heard, to resound with anthems of social joy! 
The blessed God condescends to reckon this up as 
it were among his royal prerogatives, and places 
the fruit of the human lips among the tributes in 
which he particularly delights! Yea, he utters it 
with a kind of sacred triumph, and repeats it to 
express the certainty of the fact, and to express 
the delight with which he publishes the tidings of 
it. " Peace ! peace ! unhappy creatures as you 
are, you have been at war with me, but I grant 
you peace. I not only send you the tidings of it, 
but I bring it myself; now I see that you are 
humbled in my presence, in the breaking of your 
soul ;" for to such the context speaks. " I assure 
you that I am willing to be at peace with you ; 
willing to give you all the joys of prosperity. Be- 
lieve it from my own lips. Believe it, and echo it 
back with a sacred pleasure; and let this be the 
first-fruit of your lips, ' Peace, peace!' I speak it 
to him that is afar off, and to him that is near; to 
Jews and Gentiles, to all the world that will re- 
ceive it." Peace is actually granted to him that 
is come near. Peace is proposed to him that is 
yet at a distance. This blessed peace is pro- 
claimed to you who have approached this table in 
the sincerity of your hearts; to you who surround 
it; and to you who do not partake of the ordi- 
nance, if you seek that Lord whom we here com- 
memorate, and do not absent yourselves in con- 
tempt; though surely it will be your wisdom, as 
soon as possible, more solemnly to declare your 
acceptance of his grace. " I will heal him, saith 
the Lord" (that is, the afflicted humble soul, be he 
who he may.) " My wounds were the wounds of 
a friend, not those of an enemy. And as I have 



FORTY-SECOND MEDITATION. 131 

wounded, so will I heal ; as I have broken, so will 
I bind up." For all this let us return our praises; 
let us renew this covenant of peace ; Jet us devote 
ourselves to God's service with greater determina- 
tion than ever, and let us do so according to the 
free access which is given us, to enter into the 
holiest by the blood of Jesus, by that new and 
living way which he has consecrated. May the 
Holy Spirit in this ordinance take of the things of 
Christ, and show them unto us, a blessing for 
which the ancient church used especially to pray 
at this holy ordinance. 



MEDITATION XLIL 

AT THE SACRAMENT, APRIL 11, 1742. 

The pious soul refreshed under the blessings of Christian* 
ity; and of the Resurrection of the Just. 

God was pleased in a very particular manner to 
indulge me in all the duties of this day, drawing 
out my soul in earnest desires after him, and melt- 
ing me to sentiments of uncommon gratitude in 
prayer and in the preaching of his word, when 
the approach of the day of death and of judgment 
was urged with great life and zeal, as an engage- 
ment to activity in good works, and to a holy con- 
versation. Adored be Divine grace, that I then 
most deeply felt what I spoke, and that every word 
came from the soul. 

At the table of the Lord my meditations were, 
by a conversation with Mary Wills, directed to 
those words, " Times of refreshing shall come 
from the presence of the Lord." Acts iii. 19. I 



132 FORTY-SECOND MEDITATION. 

observed, that times of refreshment in a natural 
sense had come, by the plentiful rain which God 
had just been pouring out upon the ground; but 
that nobler refreshment was to be expected by the 
intercourse which the holy soul has with God, 
when extraordinary communications of his Spirit 
are poured out upon his church, and much more, 
when he shall, in his time, send Jesus Christ, his 
Son, from heaven at the day of the resurrection. 
Intercourse with God in ordinances is refreshing. 
His love manifested to the soul, is like a cloud of 
the latter rain ; therefore he says, " I will be as 
the dew unto Israel." Hos. xiv. 5. See how the 
earth opens, and seems to breathe forth and to 
pant for refreshing showers; so does the pious 
soul long for God, and for his grace. The cool, 
refreshing delights of his favour nourish the soul, 
and the heart rejoices : like a bright shining after 
rain, when the flowers open their sweets, so then 
every ornament of piety grows more visible, and 
your souls shall be like a watered garden. It is 
not by ordinances alone that this is effected ; they 
are, at best, but streams of water flowing near a 
garden, until he, as it were, by his own hand 
pours them upon it; or rather, until he rains down 
the refreshing influences of his grace from heaven. 
There shall be times of refreshment, when the 
interest of God shall be revived. The world is a^ 
barren wilderness : " But I will pour water upon : 
him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry 
ground," Isaiah xliv. 3; saith the Lord. It will be 
refreshing, if this be upon our barren spot at home; 
if God pours out his Spirit upon our seed, and his 
blessing upon our offspring. And if he extends it 
roundabout us; if he thus waters this island of 
ours — a garden cultivated indeed, but which, alas! 



FORTY-SECOND MEDITATION. 133 

wants rain. If he pours it forth upon remote por- 
tions of the world, and causes the wilderness to 
blossom like a rose ! — On whom does not his sun 
arise? and on whom does not his rain descend! 
O that it may be thus with regard to gospel ordi- 
nances, and to the influences of his grace ! O that 
his people may be made willing in the day of his 
power! that so he may have the youth for his heri- 
tage; and that in number the young converts may 
be like the drops of dew, born from the womb of 
the morning. This would be a delightful prospect. 
This would give our souls unutterable pleasure. 
This would, indeed, teach us to exclaim, " Lord, 
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, ac- 
cording to thy word : for mine eyes have seen thy 
salvation." Luke ii. 29, 30. 

But there is another time, and one of yet nobler 
refreshment, which shall undoubtedly come from 
the presence of the Lord, and in which we shall 
each of us have our own part ; when Christ, whom 
the heavens are to retain till the time of the res- 
titution of all things, shall come to set all things 
in order. Great disorder there seems to be, and it 
seems a mystery, that so many millions of his 
servants should die, and turn to dust. But he will 
roll away that reproach. He will make their death 
the everlasting monument of his power, and of his 
grace. How finely is this expressed in Isaiah; 
*" Thy dead men shall live," (speaking to the 
church,) " together with my dead body shall they 
arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust." 
Awake, and tune your new-made tongues to an- 
thems of immortal joy and thankfulness: "for thy 
dew is as the dew of herbs;" Isaiah xxvi. 19; that 
is, a plentiful dew shall fall upon you, whose 
bones have been scattered like chips of wood upon 
12* 



134 FORTY-SECOND MEDITATION. 

the borders of the grave. A copious dew from the 
Lord shall descend upon you, and the earth shall 
cast forth her dead ! A sumptuous and a glorious 
harvest shall suddenly cover the face of the earth ! 
O how delightful a view! How refreshing to be- 
hold ! How much more so to partake of that tri- 
umph! Some have thought, that those who were 
raised out of their graves at the resurrection of 
Christ ascended to heaven with him. Suppose that 
it had been so, and that they had all been assem- 
bled with him around the mount, and ascended to 
heaven in his train, what a pleasing sight to his 
disciples! How much more glorious a spectacle 
shall this be, which we shall not only behold, but 
share! — O my friends, in the view of it we feel a 
refreshment, and we may well believe it, for we 
see some things before our faces containing the 
memorial of a past fact, far more wonderful than 
this. The wonder is, that Christ should become 
incarnate and die; not that he should rise and 
ascend : and that, having died for his people, yet 
he should leave them for a while under the power 
of death; not that he should at length redeem 
them from it. Let us, then, commemorate that 
great transaction, which throws so beautiful a light 
upon the other, and which lays so glorious a foun- 
dation for our expectation of it. 

At the Lord's table, I urged the propriety of 
grateful returns, and put in my claim, in the name 
of Christ, to urge upon all the duty of love and 
service — the constant, faithful, zealous service, of 
all who would indeed believe in him. " What 
have you done for him since you were last at the 
Lord's table? What will you do for him in the 
interval of time before the next? What can you 
contrive to do for his interest?" 



FORTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 135 

(Memorandum.) After this ordinance I thought 
of an expedient — to write a letter to dissenting 
ministers, to be delivered after my death to those 
who, for the time being, should be in the places to 
be mentioned in a codicil to my will. 



MEDITATION XLIIL 

ON THE SACRAMENT, JANUARY 2, 1743. 

The redeemed are the property of the Saviour, and are 
self-dedicated to his service. 

To-day I pursued the subject of redeeming time, 
which I entered upon yesterday, attended with this 
awful circumstance, that a person known to me, 
who was well yesterday evening at five o'clock, 
died this morning before nine. This quickened 
me to struggle with my indisposition, which was 
partly the effect of walking in the wind, and of 
walking too fast. Nevertheless, I bless God, that 
towards the latter end of the discourse I found my 
heart much warmed, when addressing my exhorta- 
tion to those who were under peculiar engage- 
ments. These, I further urged by the considera- 
tion of the dying love of Christ, and insisted upon 
this text at the table of the lord, " Ye are not your 
own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore 
glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, 
which are God's." I Cor. vi. 19, 20. I observed 
the claim entered, " Ye are not your own." We 
may advance that claim in the name of God upon 
the angels, if they are present in the assembly. 
We say it, and their hearts echo it back. " True, 



136 FORTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 

we are his — his, that made us, and hath made us 
happy; his, who hath preserved us so long, and 
continued to us those songs which we began when 
the foundations of the earth were laid." But to 
them we could not add, as in the following words, 
" Ye are bought with a price." To us it is appli- 
cable. The apostle says not, with what a price. 
He needed not. Surely it must be in the mind of 
every Christian here. " Ye were not redeemed 
with corruptible things, as silver and gold, — but 
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb 
without blemish and without spot." 1 Pet. i. 18, 
19. Christ is the price sufficient and adequate to 
the claim. As in Zechariah, God commissioned 
his prophet to demand a price. The price given 
was that of a slave. And he speaks with indig- 
nation: "A goodly price at which I was valued 
by these wretches!"* So in present circum- 
stances, it is a goodly price indeed. Do you re- 
fuse it, when Christ says, "Poor creature! know 
that thou wast undone; that thou wast sold to be 
a bond slave ; that thou wast as a dead man before 
the Lord; and that I redeemed thee, that I gave my 
blood for thee: thou mayest remember what I suf- 
fered for thee. What have I deserved?" Would 
any of you say, " Lord, thou hast deserved some- 
thing from me, and something I will render. 
Thou hast deserved that I should consecrate to 
thee some of my time, some of my possessions; 
that I should give up for thee some of my corrupt 
affections, and observe some of thy precepts." 
Christ will not have such a divided service. You 
must be entirely his, or he will not own you to be 
his at all. " Well, Lord," would some of us say, 

* The common version reads thus: "A goodly price 
that I was prized at of them." Zech. vi. 13. 



FORTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 137 

"I allow thy claim; — m humble contrition I am 
thine, I am astonished at thy grace : I know not 
what to say ; only receive me. Do me this hon- 
our ; add this further favour to all the rest, to take 
me, and to dispose of me as thy property ; — use 
me for thy glory as thou pleasest. I will labour 
for thee; I will suffer for thee, if it be for thine 
honour. I will submit to what may be more pain- 
ful, in some respects, than labour, or than suffer- 
ing, to be laid aside, as a vessel in which thou 
hast no pleasure. It imports not, if I may be 
thine, though I may seem for the present but as a 
broken vessel." This is reasonable. Well then, 
while God continues your abilities and capacities 
of service, glorify him with your bodies and with 
your spirits, which are the Lord's. Body and 
spirit are his ! — He gave his body to be a sacri- 
fice: " My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto 
death." Matt. xxvi. 38. Thus has he purchased 
thy soul and body. Let the faculties of the mind 
and the members of the body be employed for him. 
And let this be your concern, that Christ may in 
all things be glorified in you, whether by life or 
by death. 1 Pet. iv. 11. Let the circumstances 
of both be the great Lord's of life and death. 
Dost thou wish it, Christian? If thou consentest, 
it shall undoubtedly be so. He will accept the 
tribute which thou bringest him, humble as it is, 
and worthless as it may seem, thou shalt have the 
honour and pleasure of glorifying God now in a 
certain degree, and ere long thou shalt be glori- 
fied with him. "Amen, gracious Lord," will the 
Christian say; " and in token that I desire it may 
be so, and hope and expect that it will, I now 
come to thy table." 

These sentiments were expressed in a very live- 



138 FORTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 

ly and effectionate prayer. But when I came to 
break the bread, I was taken exceedingly ill, and 
rendered by faintness and a pain in my stomach, 
in a great measure, unfit to proceed. Indeed, I 
was not without some thoughts, but that I might 
have taken my flight from the table of Christ upon 
earth to his presence above. Cold clammy sweats 
were upon me; but if, as some said, a mortal pale- 
ness seemed fixed upon my cheek, I hope I can 
say that glory was in my soul. I revived a little, 
and felt an unutterable sweetness in singing the 
hymn on the words of good old Simeon, as ren- 
dered by dear Dr. Watts; and I must say, that all 
the pleasure, which I might have had in a better 
state of health and spirits, in the after part of the 
ordinance, was far overbalanced by the unutterable 
delight which I enjoyed in consequence of being 
so interrupted. I cannot but think, that it was in 
some measure owing to the great fervour of my 
spirit in the former duties of the day, that this fail- 
ure now happened, and I humbly hope that I may 
say, that I was in some degree consumed with the 
love of God. Gracious Lord, I thank thee for the 
visitation, and for the support under it. I thank 
thee that I am thine, in life or in death. And I 
humbly renew the solemn dedication of myself 
unto thee, as in a holy tranquillity of soul, and 
undissembled readiness to be disposed of as thou 
pleasest in this world, or in a better. 



( 139 ) 



MEDITATION XLIV. 

ON THE SACRAMENT, IN FEBRUARY, 1743. 

Of the joys of the future world, 

I had been preaching from those words in Ephe- 
sians, " Christ loved the church, and gave himself 
for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it, that 
he might present it to himself a glorious church," 
dec. Ephesians v. 25, 26. Agreeably to this I 
spoke to-day from a scripture which I believe has 
been the subject of my meditation before, but I am 
not quite sure. It was, "And the ransomed of the 
Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs 
and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall 
obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing 
shall flee away." Isaiah xxxv. 10. When the 
church is perfectly saved, this shall be fulfilled. 
Observe under what character God's people are 
described; whither they shall be brought, and in 
what manner; and how this great transaction shall 
end. Under what character God's people are 
described: "the redeemed of the Lord." Those 
whom he has ransomed and bought. Are we not 
so? This is a feast of his ransomed ones, in 
which the price for the ransom is commemorated. 
Nor would any one who did not apprehend him- 
self in this view have any business here. It is sin- 
ners that were once enslaved and condemned, then 
bought by the Son of God, who are to seek their 
places at this board, their part in this ordinance. 
" Into thy hand I commit my spirit : thou hast re- 



140 FORTY-FOUKTH MEDITATION. 

deemed me, O Lord God of truth !" Psalm xxxi. 5. 
"They shall return:" return from their captivity 
in the grave. He will say in another world, " Re- 
turn, ye children of God." And they "shall come 
to Zion;" to the New Jerusalem, to the city of our 
God. Now we are travelling towards it. Now 
we are incorporated with that society. We have 
our freedom, but not our habitation there, being no 
more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens 
with the saints, and of the household of God. It 
is that Jerusalem from above, which is the mother 
of us all. It is pleasant to come to Zion below; 
our Lord loves it. But O, how much more do wc 
love those heavenly gates ! They shall " come 
with singing;" making a, grand procession with 
anthems in their mouths. What melody in each ! 
What harmony in all! How pleasant to think 
of them, not singing with sorrowful and broken 
voices, but in a full harmonious quire! Who 
would not wish to have, seen Moses and Aaron 
leading on the Israelites from Egypt with that 
sacred song of triumph? to have heard the poor 
slaves, untaught in music, unless by inspiration, 
and used rather to groans than songs ; yet on so 
sublime an occasion as the deliverance of Israel 
and the destruction of Pharaoh, their tongues were 
filled with notes of triumph : — it had been pleasant. 
But the song of Moses and the Lamb shall be in 
another strain. O that we could catch a little of 
the echo now! And how shall it end? They shall 
march on to heaven? " Lift up your heads, O'ye 
gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors!" 
Psalm xxiv. 7. Everlasting joy is upon their 
heads. God pours out the oil of gladness, and its 
fragrance is immortal. Sorrow and sighing were 
once familiar, but now they are fled tiway, for 



FORTY-FIFTH MEDITATION. 141 

ever discomfited and defeated by the great Captain 
of our salvation and his triumphant legions; they 
dare not look him in the face, they dare not in- 
vade his followers for a moment. How grand 
and how delightful an image! And now, Lord, 
lead me not forth with the workers of iniquity, but 
with this thy people. Methinks that thou hast this 
day begun to fulfil this promise. I number myself 
among thy redeemed ones. I come to thy Zion 
here, I come with pleasure and delight; joy is in 
my heart, and a song is in my mouth. Let sor- 
row and sighing retire, at least for a while, and 
give way to that joy that becomes such a feast. 
And thou, sacred Spirit, shed abroad a new effu- 
sion of faith, of hppe, of love, and joy in my soul. 
Come, Lord, for J wait on thee with expectation 
and delight. 



MEDITATION XLV. 

ON THE SACRAMENT, MARCH 11, 1744. 

The Church consecrated by the sacrifice of Christ, 

Having preached of the power of faith in our 
coming to God, I fixed my meditations at the 
Lord's table on those words in Peter; " To whom 
coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed 
of 'men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, 
as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an 
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, ac- 
ceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5. 
I here observed the view we have of Christ. As 
looked u£on by the generality of mankind, he is 
- JL'3 



142 FORTY-FIFTH MEDITATION. 

" disallowed;" they slight him. Many openly re- 
ject his gospel, and oppose it. Others concern 
not themselves about it. They do not make him 
the foundation of their hopes. Either they have 
no foundation at all, no evidences for eternity, or it 
is some other foundation, and not Christ. But he 
is u chosen of God." So chosen, that the great 
God has passed a decree, that if ever any sinful 
creature obtains salvation, it should be through 
Christ, and as sought by him. If ever the gospel 
comes to a man, Christ must be acceptable, or he 
shall not have eternal life. Every other founda- 
tion shall undoubtedly fail, and the hail shall 
sweep it away as a refuge of lies. He is also pre- 
cious in the sight of God. In this view, he is 
called, " My beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased." Matt. hi. 17. It is pleasant to view 
Christ as the foundation of his church: in this 
view also the eyes of the Lord are upon him. He 
is also precious to every believer; incomparably 
so. And they come to him as for something that 
passes between Christ and the real Christian. He 
speaks to his Lord, speaks to him from the heart, 
and is built up as a spiritual house, and as lively 
stones. This of natural buildings would be ab- 
surd ; not so in the spiritual sense. The building 
of the Father of spirits, is a spiritual building. 
Spirits are active in it. It is their language, 
" Lord, let me be laid as a stone in thy house, and 
be one of those whom thou wilt condescend to in- 
habit as thy temple." The simile is then changed, 
and Christians are represented as a holy priest- 
hood in this house, to offer up spiritual sacrifices 
to God through Christ. They are priests. They 
shall be so above. They are so now; and, as 
such, holy; they desire to separate themselves 



forty-sixth: meditation. 143 

from all impurities of flesh and spirit; and they 
attend to offer prayers, praises, and alms-deeds. 
They are spiritual in all ; all is done in the name 
and fear of God, from a true spiritual principle, 
which engages the heart. And they are accept- 
able to God ; but it is all through Christ. He is 
the Aaron, the representative of the whole body. 
And they are chosen in him. And they shall at 
length be made priests to keep God's charge, for 
he will, as in the promise to Joshua, give them a 
place among them that stand by. Zech. hi. 7. 
Glorious hope! In the mean time, let us offer the 
sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips, giving 
thanks in his name ; and commemorate that great 
priestly act of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which 
we are consecrated ; and that blood through which 
we have boldness to enter into the holy place. 



MEDITATION XLVI. 

ON THE SACRAMENT, APRIL 8, 1744. 

Christians rejoice as they anticipate the second coming 
of the Saviour. 

Having preached on those words in Jeremiah, 
w How shall I put thee among the children," &c. 
Jer. iii. 19. I introduced the ordinance with a 
meditation on these: "As often as ye eat this 
bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's 
death till he come:" 1 Cor. xi. 26; in which I 
mentioned two leading thoughts. There is a show- 
ing forth of the death of Christ to ourselves, to 
affect our own hearts; and to the world, both ene- 



144 FORTY-SIXTH MEDITATION. 

mies and friends. To ourselves; we represent it 
before our own eyes, that our thoughts may be 
fixed upon it, and affected with it : that Christ died ; 
and that he died thus: that his body was broken, 
and that his blood was poured out. So miserable 
were we as to need it;— so merciful was our God 
as to contrive it; — so gracious was our blessed 
Redeemer as to submit to it. Thus, were we ran- 
somed: thus, our best services were purchased: 
thus a lasting obligation was laid upon us, an ever- 
lasting obligation, which we shall never outlive in 
this world or in the next. We show it to our- 
selves in this connexion, because we desire to 
answer this obligation. We show it forth to 
others; to all; to the greatest enemies of Christ. 
We are not ashamed of his cross. We do not 
desire that his death should be forgotten. It is the 
language of this action, that Christ died, and we 
would show it forth in the midst of Jews and Mo- 
hammedans, though they should deride it. We 
show it forth to his friends, hoping it will strike 
their hearts. We call on you, who are present, to 
look up to it, and to consider it. This was our 
Saviour; and not ours alone, but we trust yours 
too. Do you not believe it? Do you not consider 
it? We also show forth his death till he come. It is 
an ordinance always to be continued in the church ; 
and the thought of his coming is to be connected 
with it. It is an ordinance always to continue in 
the church. It has continued a great many ages; 
was instituted probably before the Sabbath, at least 
before that illustrious one, when the Holy Ghost 
descended from heaven. It will continue to the 
end. If it be rooted out in one church and nation, 
it will continue in another until the Lord's day be- 
fore the re-appearance of Christ. The last day of 



FORTY-SIXTH MEDITATION. 145 

the Son of man upon the earth! And O! what a 
circumstance will that be for Christians not aware 
of so sudden a change ! Having been at the Lord's 
supper on the preceding Sabbath, to see before the 
next our Lord Jesus Christ descending in the 
clouds of heaven, and to be caught up to meet 
him. Surely the pleasure of that interview will 
be augmented by the communion they have had 
with him on such an occasion as this. We are 
also to consider this ordinance in connexion with 
the view of his coming. He will surely and 
quickly come! Many of our fellow communi- 
cants he has come to take to himself. Their 
places are empty; or rather, we fill them. So 
will ours be emptied, and filled up, I trust, by suc- 
cessors. O that there may still be here a seed to 
serve Christ, when you and I are in our graves. 
Our Lord Jesus Christ will come to judgment, and 
we shall be " gathered up together to him." It 
will, perhaps, be thirteen or fourteen hundred 
years or more before the millennium will be; — but 
Christ will then remember us; and remember his 
servants who have already been dead almost two 
thousand years; — nay, the people of God, who 
have been dead much longer. He will lose none, 
but raise up all; Christ cannot forget us, and al- 
though our names be forgotten in the church be- 
low, they shall live with him. O blessed day! In 
the expectation of this, let us, in obedience to his 
command, do our part this day towards worthily 
transmitting this blessed memorial. 

I had afterwards many addresses to the specta- 
tors; praying for the absent, and especially for 
those who were either confined at home, or absent 
in foreign lands. 
13* 



( 146 ) 



MEDITATION XLVIL 

REMARKS ON WHAT PASSED ON A SACRAMENT DAY, SEPTEM. 
BER 13, 1747. 

Love and grace of Christ in suffering for guilty man. 

I must record this day as one of the most blessed 
of my life. God was pleased to meet me in my 
secret retirement in the morning, and poured into 
my soul such a flood of consolation in the exer- 
cises of faith and love, as I was hardly able to 
sustain. It would have been a relief to me to have 
been able even to have uttered strong cries of joy. 
O, how did I then wish for a melodious voice, and 
how gladly could I have made earth and heaven 
re-echo with praise! Family devotion was unut- 
terably sweet; and although the pleasure of my 
sermon was much interrupted by an accidental 
disorder that happened in my throat while I was 
speaking, yet I bless God, that the sacramental 
attendance and the evening services were all be- 
yond expression sweet. My soul was full of God, 
and of heaven. 

The scripture on which the meditation turned 
was that in 1 Pet. iii. 18, "Christ also hath once 
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he 
might bring us to God, being put to death in the 
flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." I cannot ex- 
press the view which was given me of the infinite 
love and grace of Christ in suffering for our cause 
" the just for the unjust," which last circumstance 
I was enabled to own before God with great bro- 
kenness of heart and unfeigned humility. I ex- 
plained the view I then had of the sufferings of 
Christ for us; the righteous instead of the un- 



FORTY-SEVENTH MEDITATION, 147 

righteous ; who thus put himself between the sword 
of the Divine justice and our souls. I then rela- 
ted the story of the poor negro woman who saved 
Captain Falconer, then her husband, by putting 
herself betwixt him and the weapon of his enemy, 
and receiving the blow at the expense of her own 
life; which appeared to me a very affecting cir- 
cumstance. 

It was that we might be introduced to God, that 
he thus suffered. God will not see us, will not 
have any intercourse with us, until Christ under- 
takes to introduce us; then we are welcome — then 
the Father smiles: and this is actually done. Now 
we that were once afar off are brought nigh; are 
near him as his children ; are the objects of his 
love, and brought near to be separated no more. 
What shall separate us from the love of God? 
Nothing can but sin. The rebels were put to 
death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit: his 
Divine nature raised his human from the grave, 
and now he ever lives and reigns. 

In breaking the bread, I had many sweet medi- 
tations, and particularly on those words, " I will 
raise him up at the last day." John vi. 39, 40. 
And once more, in the compass of a few verses, 
" I will raise him up at the last day." O how de- 
lightful! our resurrection is secure; we shall be 
raised up with, and like our Lord : he shall pre- 
sent us together with himself. My soul was even 
■ transported with the hope. This is the promise that 
was sealed to me so powerfully in my secret re- 
tirement, that it seemed as if I were just going to 
receive the full extent of the blessing, and almost 
as if the day of the Lord were come. 

My heart was strongly drawn out in prayer to 
God for my fellow communicants, and for the 



148 FORTY-SEVENTH MEDITATION. 

spectators ; as it was also in repeating a very af- 
fectionate sermon from Christ's invitation, " Come 
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest." Matt. xi. 28. I hope 
that God blessed it as the means of good to some 
persons; and I was particularly desirous that it 
might be so to Miss Saunders, the amiable daugh- 
ter of my once honoured and beloved friend, for 
whom I had the highest regard. Providence has 
brought her for awhile under my roof, in circum- 
stances that demand my peculiar concern, as she 
has fallen into a sad negligence with regard to 
religion. My design is, if possible, to draw her to 
Christ; and I am in great hopes that God will 
favour me so far as to make me the means of 
some good to her soul. There is one token for 
good; which is, that I have perhaps hardly ever 
enjoyed more of the presence of God, especially 
in family prayer, than I have done since she came 
into the family. I would humbly hope also, that 
God is beginning to work, in some degree, upon 
the hearts of some of my younger pupils intended 
for secular life. On the whole, although I have a 
great many circumstances to lament in the con- 
gregation, I have a secret hope that God, who thus 
quickens my heart, will in due time quicken his 
work; and that, when he has exercised my faith 
awhile longer, he will appear to build up our ruins, 
and renew the face of the church, as he has in 
some measure done that of the Academy, by an ac- 
cession of several new pupils, and those very pro- 
mising and delightful. At least, I hope that he will 
revive religion, more and more, in my heart; and 
although I have not been without some melancholy 
forebodings as to some future trials that may come 
upon me, yet I desire to leave myself entirely in 



FORTY-EIGHTH MEDITATION. 149 

his hands; and, confident of his gracious support, 
I would fear none of the things that I may suffer. 



MEDITATION XLVIII. 

HINTS OF MEDITATIONS ON THE SACRAMENT, FEBRUARY, 1749. 

The petitions of a Christian stated and answered. 

The subject of my meditation was, " What is thy 
petition, and what is thy request?" Esth. vii. 2. 
Were we at the banquet of wine of a king, and 
might imagine him to be addressing that question 
to each; — should we be at a loss for an answer? 
No: Lord, that our sins may be forgiven ;— all of 
them; those since we first entered into covenant 
with thee, and those since our last covenant en- 
gagements. God answers, " I will be merciful to 
their unrighteousness, and their sins and their in- 
iquities will I remember no more." Heb. viii. 12, 
And what further? — Lord, that all remaining sin 
may be rooted out, not only from our actions and 
words, but from our thoughts. He will subdue 
our iniquities ; he will cast sin into the depths of 
the sea. " Sin shall not have dominion over you: 
for ye are not under the law, but under grace." 
Rom. vi. 14. And what further? — Lord, that our 
souls may be animated in thy service; that we 
may have wisdom, and courage, and perseverance. 
"I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall 
walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord." 
Zech. x. 12. And any thing further? — That we 
may be enabled to bear up under the burdens and 
afflictions of life; not be dismayed and terrified, 



150 FORTY-EIGHTH MEDITATION. 

but remain calm and composed. "When thcu 
passest through the waters, I will be with thee; 
and through the rivers, they shall not overflow 
thee." Isaiah xliii. 2. Let not our Lord be angry, 
and we will speak but once more. — That thou wilt 
support us in death, and receive us to glory. This 
is the great promise, that, after passing through 
the dark valley, he will give unto us eternal life. 
Ail the rest have a reference to this. " Begotten 
again to a lively hope," 1 Pet. i. 3; which God 
that cannot lie has promised. Lord, I have no 
more to ask for myself, but for others I have. "O 
that Ishmael might live before thee!" Gen. xvii. 
18; my companions; my children; every one of 
them, from the eldest to the youngest. I cannot 
say that it is an absolute promise; but he hath 
said "I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed." 
Gen. xvii. 7. Confirm,, O Lord, the pleasing hope, 
and accept my grateful vows for the honour of thy 
name. O Lord, extend thy gospel here, although 
perhaps it may not be immediately among those 
whom we are most concerned for, yet, surely, 
upon the whole, we have that comfortable promise, 
The knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth — 
a seed shall remain to serve him. Isaiah xi. 9; 
Psalm xxii. 30. Lord, we believe that thou hast 
granted our petitions: we will turn them into 
praise; we will go away as those that have this 
cheerful and comfortable hope. 

Invitations were then given to the aged and the 
young. Here are seasons now of gathering, for 
the fruit is ripe! — and of hope, for others are 
coming forward with the favourable gale of youth : 
may they steer into this peaceful harbour. 



( 151 ) 
MEDITATION XLIX. 

HINTS OF THE SACRAMENT, IN MARCH, 1749. 

Christians are inoffensive, and benevolent in thought and 
deed. 

Having preached on God's gathering together in 
one all things in Jesus Christ, I added a meditation 
on these words, " That we should be to the praise 
of his glory." Eph. i. 12. I considered how we 
might be so. By celebrating his praise with our 
voices — and by showing forth his praise in our 
lives. I touched in the former on the error of 
those who deny singing, and pressed the propriety 
of allowing a proper proportion of praise in public 
worship at all times, especially on Sabbath and 
sacrament days. O that God would give more of 
his Spirit to excite praise! I then insisted on the 
duty of showing it forth by an inoffensive, exem- 
plary, and useful conversation. Inoffensive: ob- 
serve what it is that gives offence and occasions 
reproach. Intemperance; being absent from ordi- 
nances; covetousness ; pride; censoriousness. I 
then urged an exemplary behaviour, so that men 
might learn by us, and so that, if we were in a 
country where our language could not be under- 
stood, yet that by our good behaviour the natives 
might learn how they should behave themselves to 
us. Endeavour to be useful; — do good by diffu- 
sive bounty. Many poor want your assistance: 
give it to them. Do not indulge temptations of a 
sophistical nature, and so, instead of relieving the 
poor, find out artful reasons why they should not 
be relieved. Think of good to be done to the souls 
of companions; of children; of servants; of friends: 



152 FIFTIETH MEDITATION. 

abound in this work, and remember that your op- 
portunities lie but within a little space. 

I said but little, particularly in breaking the 
bread. Before giving the cup, I urged them to 
lift up their hearts to God, that if he offered it they 
might see it as offered by his hand, and might take 
it. May the mercy of the Lord pardon those who 
neglect his grace. 



MEDITATION L. 

HINTS OF THE SACRAMENT, IN APRIL, 1749. 

Christ will not desert his people in times of sorrow and of 
trial. 

I had some remarkable enjoymenf yesterday and 
this morning, and a charming season in attending 
Mr. Robinson, after preaching from Isaiah xliii. 
1, 2, " Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O 
Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear 
not : for I have redeemed thee." I introduced the 
Lord's supper with Isaiah xlix. 13, " Sing, O hea- 
vens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into 
singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comfort- 
ed his people, and will have mercy upon his afflict- 
ed." The words express a most affectionate rap- 
ture; and as if the prophet was not himself suffi- 
ciently able to express his joy, he calls upon inani- 
mate nature. Let the mountains re-echo it down- 
wards to the earth, and upwards to heaven, and 
thus let it excite our songs. Let celestial music in 
all its charms be employed to celebrate it. To 
celebrate what? — the deliverance from Babylon? 
If it were so, how poor to our triumph ! — to come 
back to an earthly Canaan, where some of their 



FIFTIETH MEDITATION. 153 

fathers, some of their grandfathers had lived; 
where so many risks were to be run, and so 
many conveniences were to be resigned, that the 
greater part, when they had liberty to do so, still 
chose to reside at Babylon. If those who returned 
had occasion to weep the diminished glory of their 
temple, how much more cause have we ! 

" The Lord hath comforted his people." He has 
a people; and if he sees them in places that need 
comfort, he provides it. Who else could have 
comforted but the Lord? . Had we understood our 
true case, we might have derived joy from every 
circumstance that rmd given us affliction. Was it 
bodily pain, gout, or stone? could it be scarcely 
endured only for a few days? O, what would it 
be to endure such anguish and agony for ever ! If 
it be grievous to support the distress of a wounded 
spirit but for a little while, what are the agonies 
of eternal despair! If the loss of a friend be 
grievous, what must be the everlasting loss and 
absence of God! If I grieve to see a dear child 
in pain, what must it be to behold all that are dear 
to me in torment! O, what must the situation of 
my mind be, if I can behold this with a strange 
kind of pleasure, rather than with sympathy! If 
the insults of enemies be in any degree grievous, 
what must the scorn and insults of infernal spirits 
be, wherewith they shall seize me as their helpless 
prey, and cry, "There shall be no deliverer!" 
Thus might we have argued, had not redemption 
taken place; and what, then, should comfort us, 
but this, "I, even I, am he," saith the Lord, "that 
comforteth you?" Isaiah li. 12. I speak forgive- 
ness and peace; and then, who shall give trouble? 
He speaks it through Christ ; and by this memo- 
rial of the Saviour's love, he will have mercy on 
14 



154 FIFTIETH MEDITATION. 

his afflicted servants. His people may be afflicted, 
as in my text, they may pass through the fire and 
the water; but still He has mercy; he will sup- 
port them, and that wonderfully. •' Unto the up- 
right there ariseth light in the darkness." Psalm 
cxii. 4. Have we not experienced it? Have we 
not found the blessed interposition, when He has 
commanded it? — when, bewildered in midnight ob- 
scurity, we have perceived a sudden light arise in 
the mind, we knew not whence, or how, and as 
if day was born from the womb of night ! He 
will deliver them certainly, and speedily ; — deliver 
them from death; — for what is human life, and 
how many years can remain of it? He will de- 
liver them from all their afflictions: He will 
wipe off every tear; He will not merely put off 
their sackcloth, in which they lay down in the 
dress of death, but he will gird them with glad- 
ness. Therefore, O Sfon, sing of his goodness. 
Say not, my God has forsaken me. Say rather, 
that he will never forsake me; he will multiply 
his comforts until he completes my deliverance. 

In the administration of the elements, I ob- 
served — What if Christ were here in person, and 
said, " Let all that love me, all that trust in me, 
all that believe in me, and obey me, come down 
and take their seats at the table, and let the rest 
stay." What would you answer? Perhaps, "Lord, 
I desire to love thee. Lord, take away every thing 
in my heart that opposes." Well, all shall be well. 
That desire shows that thou art his, and that thou 
hast a right to be here, whatever thou mayest con- ' 
ceive of the matter. 



( 155 ) 
MEDITATION LI. 

ON THE SACRAMENT, APRIL 8, 1750. 

The Christian questioned as to the charges which the 
Saviour might have against him, 

I introduced the ordinance with these words, 
" Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee." 
Rev. ii. 4. I— who? Our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
holds the stars in his right hand, who walks among 
the seven golden candlesticks — he had something 
against them; though their labour, patience, and 
zeal are so honourably commemorated. We may 
emulate them, and say, O that it were with us as 
with them! Yet Christ had something against 
them. Then we shpuld surely inquire, whether 
he has not something against us. And what can 
we imagine it to be? Is it with regard to secret 
devotion? not that we omit it; but then, that it is 
carelessly performed, hurried into hasty moments. 
Is it in our family? not that we are guilty of the 
great wickedness of omitting prayer; but then, it 
has degenerated into a form. Is it that we have 
little concern about the souls committed to our care 
— our children, our servants, or our friends? Is it 
that we are wanting in charity? whether in can- 
dour, by finding fault with the characters of others, 
and presuming to censure them, when perhaps they 
are better than ourselves? or that we want charity 
to the bodies of others — that we have not set apart 
a portion of our substance, as many do; that we 
do not look into their cases, that we do not care to 
hear of their sorrows, but are ingenious to find out 
excuses for blaming, instead of pitying and reliev- 



156 FJTTY-SECOND MEDITATION. 

ing them? Is it attachment to this world; either 
to its honours, its profits, or its pleasures? Is it 
the loss of our first love? How unreasonable! 
why should we love Christ less than we did when 
he first formed an acquaintance with our souls? — 
has he not rather bestowed more and greater fa- 
vours upon us? Well then, let us own that, what- 
ever he has against us, we are inexcusable. 

And to you, spectators; has he not something 
against you! — even this single circumstance, that 
you attend not upon his table, although you have 
had so many engagements and invitations; al- 
though so many have testified to the refreshments 
ihey have received, which testimony we now re- 
peat. What, then, is to be done? If thy brother 
has aught against thee, go 'and be reconciled; 
much more is it to be reconciled here. But you 
need not go, for, lo, he is here! Pour out your 
hearts before him, and say, Blessed Jesus, I re- 
pent; forgive me, and give me grace for the future 
to walk more consistently with thee. If thou hast 
any thing more against me, Lord, make me to 
know it, and I will gladly renounce it. Lord, I 
can relish nothing while thou hast aught against 
me. 



MEDITATION LII. 

HINTS OF MEDITATIONS AT THE SACRAMENT, OCTOBER 7, 1750. 

The believer render ed ultimately secure from death and sin 

I introduced the ordinance with a meditation on 
Jer. i. 20, " The iniquity of Israel shall be sought 



FIFTY- SECOND MEDITATION. 157 

for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Ju- 
dah^ and they shall not be found: for I will par- 
don them whom I reserve." A promise relating 
to the re-admission of the Israelites into the char- 
ter of salvation, and therefore common to Chris- 
tians. God will pardon them more fully. It im- 
plies, that if sin were sought for, there should be 
no trace found. This may refer to the mark of 
the curse upon them, when the blood of Christ lay 
on them, and on their children. God would do it 
entirely away; and so he does with respect to all 
believers. As yet we see not all things put under 
his feet, although it is said they shall be. We 
see not all the sins of Judah and of Israel done 
•away — or of God's people; they are under some 
remaining tokens of sin ; and of these, are all dis- 
tempers, all the deaths of children, and all other 
calamities, Yet soon ^hall their separate spirits 
be dismissed; and then,' with regard to them, there 
will not be a mark of sin remaining! God never 
joined a rational soul to a body for a punishment: 
it was a token of his favour, to bestow instruments 
of action, and of happiness. Death never came 
otherwise than as the wages of sin, actual or im- 
puted; therefore we must consider souls in sepa- 
rate abodes, even in abodes of glory, as under 
some remembrance of sin; that is only to be 
done away by the resurrection. Never did any 
sinful creature appear in the likeness of such 
bodies; we are not then, as servants of Christ, in 
the likeness of sinful, but of sinless flesh. Death 
and sin shall then be swallowed up in victory! 
And God says, " I will pardon those whom I re- 
serve;" intimating, that it was in consequence of 
his reservation that they were pardoned. He re- 
serves them as a little remnant from destruction : 
14* 



158 FIFTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 

except the Lord ha:' chosen them they would have 
been cut off as was Sodom, where there was no 
remnant. He preserves them as a remnant re- 
maining according to the election of grace. We 
are a remnant. We might have been cut off un- 
converted. God has spared, has reserved us. 
Adore his name, and trust in him to abolish all 
remaining memorials of sin. And, O! rejoice in 
the pardon. Blessed is the man whose iniquity is 
pardoned. Psalm xxxii, 1, 2; Rom. iv.7, 8. Is 
not ours? Are we not receiving the pardon? Let 
us trust in Christ. And, O, let us rejoice! 

After breaking the bread, in which I repeated 
the heads of the sermon, I had an affecting repre- 
sentation of my heart's desire, and prayed for 
every one of my people, and for each of my hear- 
ers. 



MEDITATION LIII. 

AT THE SACRAMENT, JUNE 2, 1751.* 

Of the Christian's self-dedication to the Saviour. 

Having preached from these words, in Hebrews, 
"Ye are come to the general assembly, &c, Heb. 
xii. 22, 23, I introduced the Lord's supper with 
Isa. xliv. 3, 5, "For I will pour water upon him 
that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground : I 
will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my bjess- 
ing upon thine offspring. — One shall say I am the 
Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name 

* Dr. Doddridge died in his forty-ninth year, October 
27, 1751. 



FIFTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 159 

of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand 
unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name 
of Israel." Concerning this, I observed, what is 
the general character of believers, and the particu- 
lar circumstances of those to whom the promise is 
made. It is given to Christians, saying, "I am 
the Lord's; 5 ' to those who confess that they are 
his property, and that at his disposal they are 
willing entirely and absolutely to be. " I am the 
Lord's:" I, and all that I have* every possession; 
every relative hope; every concern: "Not as I 
will, but as thou wilt." Matt. xxvi. 39. " Another 
shall call himself by the name of Jacob." — What ! 
although it be a despised remnant; although there 
should not be one rich, polite, or learned person 
belonging to it, y.et are they God's people; — they 
are the seed of those who love and serve him, and 
who delight themselves in him. A third shall 
" subscribe with his hand to the Lord." This 
some then present actually, did. It signifies giving 
a public token of devotedness to God, and we do 
the same thing when we come to the Lord's table. 
In breaking the bread, I observed, Here, is the 
effect of the sacrifice. What was the cause? The 
pouring forth of the Spirit and the blessing, for all 
things are of God. Let us own the cause wher- 
ever we see the effect, and look to the cause when- 
ever we desire to see it, and be more earnest with 
God for the pouring out of his Spirit. Consider 
this text as especially illustrated in reference to 
those who are the seed and offspring of the church ; 
for «among them generally the seed of the future 
church is to be found, which may be an e»cour- 
agement to parents, and children, and to ministers. 
Let us thank God, wherever we see it, and bless 
God, that he has thus far heard our prayers, and 



160 FIFTY-THIRD MEDITATION. 

succeeded our pious cares. And where we do not 
as yet see it, let us wait and hope; and renew our 
supplications in favour of our remaining seed, and 
for each other; and especially for those who have 
not as yet seen any thing of this kind, which must 
be to them a source of great grief: — but let us here 
give a solemn charge that all walk suitably. 

At the conclusion, I spoke of the shedding of 
the blood of Christ; and before taking the cup, I 
gave a solemn add- >ss to Him as holding the seven 
stars in his hand, and walking among the seven 
golden candlesticks. Rev. i. 20. 



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